Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative leader Tim Houston held an outdoor news conference in front of the Melville Heights seniors’ home in Halifax today. Houston is promising to Nova Scotians that if they elect his party to form the next government, he will create 2,500 single rooms in nursing homes over the next three years. About […]
Nursing home operators go public with call for better paid staff, updated facilities
Starting today, Public Health is allowing for contact between visitors and residents, but some nursing homes have lost insurance coverage and so aren't allowing that visitation.
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. “Enough Talk” is the title of a nine-page statement released Tuesday by a group representing the majority (83%) of 96 licensed nursing homes in the province. The Nursing Homes of Nova Scotia Association (NHNSA) is fed up with government inaction when it comes to long-identified […]
We need to keep talking about racism
Morning File, Tuesday, June 16, 2020
News 1. Board of police commissioners’ meeting cancelled and other tales of non-transparency and lack of accountability El Jones writes about the cancellation of today’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting, ostensibly because — three months into the pandemic — they can’t figure out how to use Microsoft Teams. Jones writes: As the movement to defund […]
Wait times increase for long-term care
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. If there was any doubt there are not enough places for people who need long-term care, the pandemic should lay that notion to rest. According to numbers provided by the Department of Health and Wellness yesterday, the wait-list for nursing home beds grew by 200 […]
45 Northwood residents have died with COVID-19
The disease has now spread into the non-nursing home part of the complex, apparently via a room for smokers.
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. The death toll continues to climb at the Northwood nursing home in Halifax. Northwood CEO Janet Simm and Executive Director Josie Ryan held an online briefing today to report three more residents have died, bringing the total to 45 at the 485-bed complex. Equally discouraging […]
Double Exposure
The pandemic has pushed back the curtain on how decades of austerity have left Canadians and the health care system more vulnerable.
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. By April 13, Nova Scotia’s State of Emergency had been in effect for 23 days, schools were closed, most businesses shuttered, and people were feeling the effects of the “lock down.” At the daily COVID-19 briefing, Premier Stephen McNeil and Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s […]
Where’s Randy?
35 residents of Northwood have died with COVID-19 under Health Minister Randy Delorey's watch, but he hasn't said a public word about them.
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Nova Scotia’s Minister of Health and Wellness Randy Delorey has not made a public statement since March 18, when he appeared alongside Premier Stephen McNeil and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang for that day’s COVID-19 briefing. Reporting for the Halifax Examiner, Jennifer […]
As Northwood deaths rise, Dr. Strang deflects responsibility, blames others, and minimizes the enormous death toll
Morning File, Monday, May 4, 2020
News 1. Northwood Over the weekend, eight people with COVID-19 died at Northwood. That brings the total number of COVID-related deaths at Northwood to 31. The provincial total is 37 (including the 31 at Northwood). As of yesterday, some 305 people connected to Northwood have contracted the disease — 220 residents and 85 employees. Sixteen […]
No “pandemic premium” for Nova Scotia health care workers
Ontario and Quebec have increased the pay for the continuing care assistants, nurses, and dietary and cleaning staff working in nursing homes during the COVID-19 crisis. It's a recognition that those workers are both needed and putting their own health at risk. But Premier Stephen McNeil has rejected calls to give this province's frontline workers similar recognition; in Nova Scotia, they'll continue on with the same low pay they've always received.
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Over the weekend, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that Ontario will pay “a pandemic premium” of $4 an hour to continuing care assistants (CCAs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), as well as dietary and cleaning staff who work in long-term care homes, group homes, home-care, and […]
The Department of Health refuses to tell us the names of all 10 nursing homes with COVID-19
Morning File, Friday, April 24, 2020
News 1. Four more COVID-19 related deaths “The province announced 55 new COVID-19 cases in the province on Thursday afternoon, the largest single-day increase so far,” reports Yvette d’Entremont: There were also four more deaths associated with the disease, all reported at long-term care facilities. Three deaths occurred at the Northwood long-term care facility in […]