CALGARY -- An online petition is calling on all levels of government to do significantly more to protect residents and staff in long-term care.

As of Thursday afternoon, more than 43,000 people had signed the Change.org Protect People in Long-Term Care petition that urges Ottawa to take "extraordinary measures" due to the ongoing outbreaks at these facilities across the country.

Michelle van Beusekom is a cofounder of the petition and says they want to see a nationwide strategy because it’s a nationwide crisis.

"It’s because we have this patchwork system. It’s not well regulated. It’s systemically underfunded. We know staff are underpaid. Long-term care had a lot of struggles before this and COVID has thrown it into relief."

The petition calls for the funding and implementation of several practises.

  1. Providing and ensuring the use of proper Personal Protective Equipment for all staff, especially those coming in closest contact with residents.
  2. Testing all residents and staff immediately. Aggregating and sharing all data from LTCs (long term care) at the provincial and federal levels.
  3. Isolating all confirmed cases and transferring them offsite to COVID-19-ready wards or facilities in order to contain the spread and alleviate pressures on LTC staff. 
  4. Ensuring appropriate staffing levels in all LTC facilities.
  5. Raising compensation for full or part-time LTC employees in all positions, including personal support workers and cleaners, to reflect their status as essential workers in a national health emergency.
  6. Ensuring funds for staff are available for safe transportation to and from facilities, emergency housing for self-isolation, and childcare.

"We need to come together, all levels of government, and protect our seniors and workers and when this is all over we need to reimagine long-term care because it’s fundamentally broken. That’s what we’ve learnt in a very hard way," said Van Beusekom.

The virus has ravaged long term care homes across the country and make up 60 per cent of Canada’s COVID-19 deaths.

Some staff members are reluctant to come into work citing inadequate personal protective equipment and that’s lead to the military being called in in some parts of the country to help deal with the pandemic.

The federal government announced an agreement on Thursday with all provinces and territories to top up the wages of some essential front-line workers, including those in long-term care facilities.

In Alberta, there have been 622 cases and 77 deaths at these facilities.

The province has implemented some strict rules to stop the spread in seniors centres including only allowing staff to work at one facility at a time.