Skip to main content

Why has home care been depleted during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Friday October 9, in Question Period I asked about the severe cut backs to Manitoba's home care program during the pandemic.  As you will see below the Minister of Health completely failed to even address the question.  This failure to address the question is unbecoming of a Minister of Health.  Rather than address the question, he bragged about the government's response to the COVID-19 epidemic.   His bragging is poorly times for it is increasingly apparent that the Pallister government was woefully unprepared for the second wave of the pandemic.

COVID-19 and Home-Care Services
Timing of Funding Changes

Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Madam Speaker, in the name of austerity and in spite of increased spending from Ottawa, the Pallister government has made deep, deep cuts into Manitoba's Home Care program. These cuts are so severe that families who were once able to rely on Home Care for their physically or mentally struggling loved ones now report to me that the program has essentially collapsed compared to what it was.

      Why has the Premier (Mr. Pallister) eviscerated Manitoba's Home Care program at the very time when it was so critically needed during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Hon. Cameron Friesen (Minister of Health, Seniors and Active Living): All members of the House know that this government's response in COVID-19 came quickly; it came early; it has been  comprehensive. We have even gained the encouragement from members on the other side who  said, way to go, this is a good response. We've received those messages.

      Those members know that we have redeployed workforce, that we have sought, right now, to restart our surgeries and procedures and diagnostics to bring those wait times down. We have done massive work to stand up capacity. We have brought co-visitation shelters to keep seniors safe in personal-care homes.

      I regret the fact that the time doesn't allow me to continue to talk about all the ways in which we are expanding on our response to COVID-19.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dougald Lamont speaks at Meth Forum last night to present positive ideas to address the epidemic, while exposing the lack of action by the Pallister Conservatives

Last night at the Notre Dame Recreation Centre in St. Boniface, at an Election Forum on the Meth Crisis in Manitoba, Dougald Lamont spoke eloquently about the severity of the meth epidemic and described the Liberal plan to address it.  The Liberal Plan will make sure that there is a single province-wide phone number for people, or friends of people, who need help dealing with meth to call (as there is in Alberta) and that there will be rapid access to a seamless series of steps - stabilization, detoxification, treatment, extended supportive housing etc so that people with meth addiction can be helped well and effectively and so that they can rebuild their lives.  The Liberal meth plan will be helped by our approach to mental health (putting psychological therapies under medicare), and to poverty (providing better support).  It will also be helped by our vigorous efforts to help young people understand the problems with meth in our education system and to provide alternative positive

Manitoba Liberal accomplishments

  Examples of Manitoba Liberal accomplishments in the last three years Ensured that 2,000 Manitoba fishers were able to earn a living in 2020   (To see the full story click on this link ). Introduced a bill that includes retired teachers on the Pension Investment Board which governs their pension investments. Introduced amendments to ensure school aged children are included in childcare and early childhood education plans moving forward. Called for improvements in the management of the COVID pandemic: ·          We called for attention to personal care homes even before there was a single case in a personal care home. ·            We called for a rapid response team to address outbreaks in personal care homes months before the PCs acted.  ·          We called for a science-based approach to preparing schools to   improve ventilation and humidity long before the PCs acted. Helped hundreds of individuals with issues during the pandemic including those on social assistance

The Indigenous Science Conference in Winnipeg June 14-16

  June 14 to 16, I spent three days at the Turtle Island Indigenous Science Conference.  It was very worthwhile.   Speaker after speaker talked of the benefits of using both western or mainstream science and Indigenous science.  There is much we can learn from both approaches.   With me above is Myrle Ballard, one of the principal organizers of the conference.  Myrle Ballard, from Lake St. Martin in Manitoba, worked closely with Roger Dube a professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology, and many others to make this conference, the first of its kind, a success.  As Roger Dube, Mohawk and Abenaki, a physicist, commented "My feeling is that the fusion of traditional ecological knowledge and Western science methodology should rapidly lead the researchers to much more holistic solutions to problems."   Dr. Myrle Ballard was the first person from her community to get a PhD.  She is currently a professor at the University of Manitoba and the Director of Indigenous Science