Media Advisory/Time to care: Staff at Muskoka Shores Nursing Home to hold rally to get better care for residents

GRAVENHURST, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - July 15, 2016) - Concerned over the level of care they are able to provide to residents, staff at Muskoka Shores Nursing Home will hold a rally Monday to raise awareness about why residents' needs are not being met.

Nursing home residents are a highly vulnerable, aging and frail population with an increasing number diagnosed with cognitive impairments, dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The level of care required far exceeds what the workers are able to provide due to low staffing levels.

"We now have only three personal support workers scheduled for every 60 residents and we physically can't provide the level of care they need," says Cindy Seaton, President of CUPE local 2481 who also works at the home. "We've been so worried about their care that I called the Ministry of Labour to make a complaint and was told there's nothing they can do because there are no legal minimum care standards."

"Ontario has the fewest staff working in long term care of any province in Canada," says Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU). "Ontario has kept this threadbare staffing model despite the steadily increasing healthcare needs of long term care residents. The result is neglect of care for our seniors. We are counting on the Liberal government to take notice of Monday's action and make the necessary changes."

"I recently had to move my father into a home because of Alzheimer's. This issue is very personal for me," say Candace Rennick, CUPE Ontario's Secretary-Treasurer who used to work in a long-term care home herself. "I know firsthand how impossible it has become to provide the level of care our parents need. They've given their lives to building our province - they deserve so much better than how they're currently being treated."

In April, MPP France Gélinas introduced Bill 188, a private member's bill that, if passed, would legislate a four hour a day minimum standard of care for residents in long-term care. Workers from Muskoka Shores believe this is exactly what's needed.

CUPE is Ontario's community union, with more than 250,000 members providing quality public services we all rely on, in every part of the province, every day. CUPE Ontario members are proud to work in social services, health care, municipalities, school boards, universities and airlines.