-

Revera Report Ignores Complicity of For-profit Long-term Care Owners and Operators in Conditions That Led to Hundreds of Residents’ Deaths

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In what can only be described as wilful omission – Revera’s carefully constructed new report - glaringly overlooks how their own for-profit model of ownership contributed to the sad and in some cases deadly outcomes for hundreds of long-term residents in the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This report underlines the lack of distance between former senior health care civil servants and politicians and the for-profit nursing home industry in Ontario. It is also a major diversion from the intense criticism for-profit owners have taken for the fact that most of the 2,200 deaths in Ontario long term care happened in privately-owned and operated facilities, like Revera’s. It is the skimping on staffing and cleaning that is the primary difference in Covid-19 mortality rates between the for-profits and the municipal and charitable homes which have performed so much better, ” says Candace Rennick, Secretary-Treasurer of CUPE Ontario.

The first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic shows that residents in for-profit homes were 60 per cent more likely to contract COVID-19 and 45 per cent more likely to die from the virus than residents in non-profit homes. A for-profit resident was also four times more likely to catch COVID-19 and four times more likely to die than a resident in a municipally run home.

“This is a report that first and foremost takes care of business. It’s hardly surprising that a for-profit corporation would commission a report that deflects attention from the shortcomings of for-profit health care. But all can now see that it’s time to bring the for-profit LTC homes into the public sector, not-for-profit sector,” says Rennick.

Despite the dismal record of the for-profit long-term care industry during the pandemic, last month the Ontario increased funding for LTC homes by billions of dollars– funding that rewarded for-profits cash for new and renovated beds. Based on PC government announcements the for-profit long-term care providers chalked up at least 2,410 new beds in 44 homes, with a lot more public money to renovate facilities. All of these facilities paid for with public cash will be owned by large, for-profit corporations.

Over the last 20 years Revera has become one of Canada’s largest private for-profit providers of both long-term care and home care. In that time “they have taken hundreds of millions of dollars in profits through understaffing nursing and personal care for long-term care residents and other services,” says Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE). “There is no question that this profit-taking has paid grisly dividends during the Covid-19 outbreaks. Ontario needs to squarely face what it has done to the seniors and others in long-term care during the pandemic and that process should begin with a conscious decision to move to not-for profit delivery.”

Today CUPE Ontario and OCHU joined in supporting the Ontario Health Coalition’s push for the Ontario Integrity Commissioner to investigate political donations and high-level personnel links between the for-profit long-term care industry and key ministers in the Doug Ford PC government prior to the passage of Bill 218 that indemnifies the private, for-profits for negligence during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contacts

Stella Yeadon, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Communications
416-559-9300 syeadon@cupe.ca

Canadian Union of Public Employees


Release Versions

Contacts

Stella Yeadon, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Communications
416-559-9300 syeadon@cupe.ca

More News From Canadian Union of Public Employees

Tentative Agreement Ratification Is a Bittersweet Win for CJS Workers after Province Terminates Service Agreement

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Workers at Community Justice Society (CJS) have voted to accept their tentative agreement. While the gains made in this round of negotiations are being celebrated, the win is bittersweet: On April 7, workers received notice that the provincial government was terminating their service agreement with Community Justice Society. The organization was given 90 days to wrap up current cases and vacate their offices. “The termination of the service agreement means...

CUPE: Julia Dumanian once again raising alarms among workers as she forgoes bargaining and threatens a lockout at Canadian Hearing Services

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For any other employer, it would have been an unprecedented move: on the first day of conciliation, on the first day of bargaining, before any negotiations had even been taken place, they called for a No Board. But this is typical behaviour from Julia Dumanian and Canadian Hearing Services (CHS). “Since taking over as CEO in 2015, there’s a deep feeling among workers that she’s tried to weaken our ability to advocate for ourselves while reducing the services we provide...

Union: Is Tearmann House Ready to Lock out Employees Over Access to Board of Directors?

NEW GLASGOW, Nova Scotia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Last week, workers from Tearmann House, a women’s shelter in New Glasgow, represented by Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4459 met with their employer for conciliation following a positive strike vote, with 90% voting in favour of job action. The bargaining teams were able to come to an agreement on all items, including monetary, except one: employee access to the Board of Directors. “Negotiators on behalf of Tearmann House are insistent that a...
Back to Newsroom