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Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Interior Health

COVID-19 cast a shadow over long-term care facilities across Canada, prompting more people to demand changes to address the losses of life and persistent isolation residents of these facilities experienced as the pandemic wore on.

Non-profit Angus Reid Institute took a look at what people thought about the industry and finds four-in-five Canadians say the pandemic fundamentally altered the way they view the industry.

Three-in-five say private care should be minimized or phased out, rising to two-thirds among those 55 years of age and older. That said, two-in-five say that private care can still be a part of the solution to the problems facing the industry.

Further, half of Canadians (47%) now say they will do everything in their power to avoid entering long-term care themselves, and to keep close family members out.

One-in-five (22%) say they’ll start saving for such a plan, while more than twice that number say they “dread” the thought of living in long-term care (44%).

If the industry is to be improved, three-quarters of Canadians say either significant changes (45%) or a total overhaul (31%) is necessary.

At least three-in-five residents in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada say that the federal government should be directly involved in creating standards for the industry.

In Alberta, Saskatchewan and Quebec, however, the same number disagree, and say it should be solely up to the provinces.

Seven-in-ten (72%) say Canada should invest more in homecare, and a full majority (55%) say they would be willing to pay more in taxes to accomplish it in their own province

B.C. and Ontario residents are most willing to pay extra to fund long-term care. In each case, three-in-five say they would be amenable to paying two per cent more in personal taxes. The rest of the country is divided nearly fifty-fifty on that proposal.

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