The COVID 19 pandemic has highlighted what seniors, activists and family members have been saying for a long time: there are significant gaps in long-term care in New Brunswick and across the country. 

Long wait lists and underfunding are some of the issues that must be addressed if we are to have a long-term care system that will allow seniors to thrive, according to guests on this edition of the NB debrief. 

"The institutional model, which is what dominates care in Canada, is a death march," said Nora Loreto, author of Spin Doctors: How Media and Politicians Misdiagnosed the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Her research has linked more than 22,000 COVID-19 deaths to residential care facilities in Canada.

Other guests include Steven Staples, national director of policy and advocacy with the Canadian Health Coalition; Dr. Joan McFarland, a retired professor of economics at St. Thomas University who researches long-term care; and Sharon Teare, president of the New Brunswick Council of Nursing Home Unions.

Join host Tobin Haley for conversations about the landscape of long-term care in Canada and some of the specific challenges that we are facing here in New Brunswick, including the privatization and corporatization of the long-term care sector.

The NB debrief is a collaboration between the NB Media Co-op and CHCO TV.

This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Stations and Users (CACTUS).

Full disclosure: NB Media Co-op coordinating editor Tracy Glynn is national director of operations and projects with the Canadian Health Coalition.