CORNWALL, ON – There are hundreds of ill, elderly or socially isolated people in Cornwall and the eastern Ontario counties who need home care but aren’t getting it, said the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario at a Cornwall media conference today.
“We want to hear from patients needing home care. Please call our home care hotline at 1-888-590-0770. Tell us your story,” said CUPE Ontario’s Heather Duff who is also a community care worker.
In Cornwall and other communities serviced through the Champlain Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) there are currently about 400 patients on the waitlist for home supports, CUPE Ontario has learned, said Duff.
Following significant home care service cuts by the Champlain CCAC, which is struggling with not enough provincial funding to meet the local demand for home care, more than 1000 patients were deemed not qualified to receive care.
“There are no doubt hundreds more patients who were promised care following surgeries who are affected by these cuts. There are others who have either been denied home care altogether, or who have had their care hours reduced. This is happening because the Liberals are making poor choices and costly blunders that are siphoning funding from needed patient care and health services,” said Hurley.
A few days ago, in her annual report Ontario’s auditor general said that the Liberals paid an extra $8 billion for private infrastructure projects (including 40 hospitals) than had the government financed and managed the projects itself.
“That’s $8 billion that’s not going into home care and other patient care in hospitals and nursing homes,” said Hurley.
Home care cuts are widespread not just in eastern Ontario, but also in London, Windsor and other parts of southwestern Ontario. Hurley stressed that cuts to home care are a symptom of the Liberals’ overall underfunding of the health system, not mismanagement by the Champlain CCAC as some are suggesting.
Following home care cuts in the Windsor area, the Ontario health minister announced $4.1 million to restore supports for patients who had their home care hours slashed by the Erie St. Clair CCAC. A proportionate amount for the Champlain CCAC would be about $6 million.
To reach as many affected by the cuts, CUPE Ontario will also be advertising the home care hotline number in the Cornwall area media.
For more information please contact:
Stella Yeadon
CUPE Ontario Communications
416-559-9300