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9 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,N ovem ber 4,2021 insidehalton.com www.shoppersdrugmart.ca 2501 Third Line905-465-3000 478 Dundas Street West905-257-9737NOW OPEN24 HRS EVERY DAY • Patient Counselling • Complete Diabetic Care• Home Visits • Consultations • Free RX Delivery• Free Nutrition Counselling • Vaccinations• Cholesterol, A1C, AFib and DNA Screening lw ys Here toelp You! DE RANGO PHARMACY INC. w 2501 T905-465-3000 • P• H • C AlwaHelp Pharmacist -Fabio De Rango Drug Store/Pharmacy Online Now until November 12 Register today! mohawkcollege.ca/OpenHouse Overdue on aVacation? Calling All Winter Travellers & Snow Birds! CALL: 1-800-461-5083 or email us: travel@tripemco.com CALL US TODAY & SEE WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU! COURTNEY HiNRiCHS GEOFF BURmAN CALL TRIPEMCO FOR ALL YOUR TRAVEL INSURANCE NEEDS • For you • Your loved ones • Even your Pet We have a variety of products that cover: Covid-19, Cruises, and almost all pre-existing health conditions! MPP Stephen Craw- ford's Oct. 14 column in the Oakville Beaver sheds light on his government's priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic economic recov- ery, including additional funding for long-term care. Yet, the debacle in the predominantly privately owned sector of long-term- care facilities is not ade- quately addressed. Crawford and the Con- servative government are promising $2.68 billion to build 30,000 new beds in the province over 10 years, with 640 of those beds in two privately operated new facilities in Oakville. This effort solves only one part of the problem, since beds without ade- quate staff and expert lev- els of patient care equal ne- glect. We need more brick- and-mortar facilities, but without an emphasis on the quality of care -- better pay commensurate with the importance of the work for the employees along with a full range of bene- fits, including full-time em- ployment, sick leave, health and pension bene- fits -- offloading the elder- ly into shiny new buildings is not enough. Additionally, no men- tion is made of enhanced on-site inspections to en- sure that the government implements the full four- hour-per-day care sched- ule. So far, the province -- I believe -- has failed to pro- tect the most vulnerable members of society. Crawford also an- nounced that "$5-billion is being allotted to hire more than 27,00 long-term staff," as many health -care staff are leaving the field. On the same day, the To- ronto Star reported "opera- tors want a permanent role for new, low-paid workers," who will be called resident support workers. They will be learning on the job to care for elderly, frail and disabled resi- dents. It's not clear how they will be formally trained for the demanding occupation of personal support workers and if pri- vate or community colleg- es will be involved in the training. Director of geriatrics for Sinai Health and the Uni- versity Health Network Dr. Samir Sinha said, "We need long-term care where resi- dents are living in homes that feel like homes, where staff are valued and sup- ported and we are thinking of the value of residents' lives and not just meeting their basic care needs." Since the pandemic be- gan, 435 long-term-care homes in Ontario have been affected, with more than 15,500 cases and 4,000 deaths. The Ontario govern- ment needs to employ more expertly trained care work- ers, enforce regular inspec- tions and penalties for non- compliance, consider the emotional environment for the residents and at the very least support more publicly owned and operat- ed long-term-care homes. Joyce Wayne taught journalism at Sheridan College for 25 years. Her latest novel, "Last Night of the World," is set in Cana- da during the Second World War. MORE BEDS DOESN'T EQUAL BETTER LONG-TERM CARE OPINION Remember to set your clocks back an hour before you go to bed Saturday night (Nov. 6). Daylight Savings Time officially ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday. The local fire depart- ment reminds home own- ers that this is also an ideal time to check the batteries in smoke alarms. TIME TO FALL BACK Set your clocks back an hour Saturday night. Shutterstock photo NEWS GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO DO MORE TO IMPROVE THE SYSTEM, WRITES JOYCE WAYNE JOYCE WAYNE Column SCAN FOR MORE Scan this code for more local opinions.