Follow me on a fast thread. As some of you know, I went through long term care with my dad from 2015-2018. I got to talk to a lot of young PSW's over that time, so let's have a chat about how messed up our system is shall we. The fact in a pandemic we're HERE is terrifying. https://twitter.com/CityCynthia/status/1325879986126008322

My personal journey through ltc, pre-covid resembled my time working for a box store far more than any health care experience I've had. It begins with schools with "churn and burn" in mind. Or as one college website puts it "IN JUST EIGHT MONTHS". So let's chat about what I saw.

Dad was on an LTC wait list for months, I stayed with him and the only help I had was from PSW's. All of them were great kids, but most were overwhelmed, and many over their heads. (Few worked well with dad's alz) PSW's are underpaid, & we've come dangerously close to PSW = McJob

Very few PSW's knew their workers rights, many were making multiple trips a day in their cars all over the city. The ones who hit my place in the early evening, were exhausted. In my short time, a few confessed they were going to quit, because they weren't prepared for the stress

By the time dad got accepted into LTC, I saw staff who were overworked. Most floors short staffed. I really felt for them - but it was also a stressful relationship as you're worried about your loved one, yet the staff is at the mercy of a for profit system prioritizing profit

When I sat with my dad by his bed, for his final days, I got a taste of night time at a LTC. That broke my heart, its too bad to write about tbh. My floor had one person who was clearly overwhelmed with paperwork and I had to be very vocal/persistent for his pain meds every hour.

Few millennials have a loved one in LTC, with peers working the floor.Few older folks that I met had the bandwidth to standup & argue for the rights of their loved one. Our system pits overwhelmed burned out young workers who need rent, against burned out loved ones who need help

Dad passed away two years ago last Friday. When covid happened, I was terrified for the lovely families and the empathetic workers who hugged me when dad passed. They've been abandoned by systemic greed, & set against each other, when we should be allies and all in this together.

Clearly I'm not bi-partisan, but folks getting great care and having dignity til their last breath, shouldn't be this hard OR political. It should be something we all support. Canadians should have faith, they will not be seen as disposable. Yet, this is not the path we are on.