canada
catholicregister.org June 7, 2020 3
BY MICKEY CONLON The Catholic Register
It could be a year or longer before churches in Canada can begin welcoming large numbers of worshippers, said a member of the country's Special Advisory Committee on COVID-19. Dr. Robert Strang said church- goers should expect limitations of 50, maybe a maximum of 100 people in the pews, until a vaccine is found for the new coronavirus. Asked when we may see churches return to full capacity, he replied: "That's highly questionable if that could be done in our new normal." He stressed that we are only experiencing the end of the first wave of the pandemic in Canada. The severity of any future waves of the virus will depend on how this first wave is dealt with, said Strang, chief medical officer of health for Nova Scotia. He was part of a Zoom meeting hosted by the Global Leadership Network Canada May 28. Full control of the situation won't be possible until there is widespread "herd immunity." He said a balance must be found between increased economic and social activity while keeping "severe outcomes" to a minimum. That will mean testing, public health follow-up and keeping tabs on organizational behaviour. Strang is part of the pan-Cana- dian COVID-19 Special Advisory Committee that helps establish national protocols to deal with the virus. He predicts it could be one, possibly two years, before we can consider the pandemic over. "It may be that COVID becomes like a flu virus that we'll have to live with," he said. Church officials were not surprised by Strang's conclusions. They have expected it would take time to return churches to full capacity, said Neil MacCarthy, director of public relations and communications with the Arch- diocese of Toronto. "Everyone would like to know the 'date' for each phase but that is largely going to be determined by the health of our country and provinces," said MacCarthy. "In western Canada churches are opening up with limited capacity. We anticipate that will likely be the case here. How soon we can move to a point where we don't have capacity restrictions would just be speculating at this point." Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith understands there is no "normal" lurking around the corner and said it "would be my guess" that it will take the develop- ment of a vaccine before a return to full public Masses. "I want that to happen as soon as anybody wants it to happen. I just miss being with the people, being able to celebrate fully, worthily and joyfully, the way that we're accustomed to," said Smith. "But these are the circumstances. We just have to accompany this with prayer, that the Lord is going to bring an end to this pandemic and let us get back to what we know and love, the full celebration of the Eucharist." As it stands, Sunday Masses can resume in Alberta beginning June 7, with maximum capacity of 50 or one-third of regular capacity, whichever is less. Strang understands faith is essential to many religious people, but he says it can't be considered an essential service. To do so would take things down a "different, bu- reaucratic legal path," he said. So as it stands, while "faith communities are absolutely essential in building a healthy, viable community," they also have a greater role to play by following restrictions. "In this new normal we have to protect people outside the faith community," said Strang. Cardinal Thomas Collins has said from day one that health officials will guide the Toronto archdiocese's response and that hasn't changed. MacCarthy hasn't seen this as a suppression of religious freedom in any way, and realizes all work is to minimize risk in spreading the virus. "Our priority should be love of neighbour, to take care of one another. Certainly in the short term, it will be difficult to have the wide range of programs that parishes are used to offering week to week," said MacCarthy. While Ontario churches remain closed to the public, the conversa- tion continues on how they will be able to re-open. That includes a church concern about the size of congregations, as it is not a one- size-fits-all solution. In Saskatchewan, as of June 8 the allowable occupancy is one-third of the "defined occupancy rate of the facility" to a maximum of 30 people. The original guidelines permitting churches to re-open allowed only 10 people at one time, including the celebrant, no matter the church size.
BY MICHAEL SWAN The Catholic Register
The 88-year-old godmother of palliative care in Ontario knows exactly what's wrong with long-term care in the province. Much of it is motivated by profit. "The profit motive is - what do I want to call it? - something that sets fire to the concept of care," said Jean Echlin. "It's just - ohhh!" said a frustrated Echlin. On June 1, Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dub, acting on his own authority to in- vestigate, assembled a "special ombudsman response team" to examine the entire sector. His investigation came one week after the Canadian Armed Forces, called in to help at five long-term care facilities facing crisis due to COVID-19, issued a damning report that found unsanitary conditions and an absence of basic care in all five for-profit homes. "Palliative first" should be the guiding principle in any home that cares for the frail elderly, Echlin said, but that's not what she sees in an industry dominated by big cor- porations. Echlin taught palliative care in the Uni- versity of Windsor's faculty of nursing for 40 years and founded Ontario's first modern hospice in Windsor. Since 2014 the deVeber Institute for Bioethics and Social Research has been handing out the annual Jean Echlin Award for Ethics in Pal- liative Care. "I'm very fortunate right now that I have two of my children who take turns with my care in day time and night time. I just consider myself blessed not to be in a long-term care home right now," she said. Echlin's instincts about the profit motive are supported by an investigation by Rabbi Shalom Schachter into COVID-19 death rates in Ontario's long-term care homes. In a May report for the Interfaith Social As- sistance Reform Coalition and the Ontario Health Coalition, Schacter found death rates were substantially higher in for-profit homes compared to non-profit and municipal homes. Just shy of 2,000 Ontario seniors live in Catholic-sponsored, non-profit long-term care homes. The Ontario Long Term Care Clinicians have issued a call for a palliative first model of care that would deliver real powers to the medical directors of the homes. "What is called for in long-term care, throughout our health care system, is a pal- liative approach to care, the essence of which is wholistic care, addressing all parts of an individual human being. It is truly compas- sionate care," said OLTCC board member Dr. Janice Legere in a release. Staffing shortages, gaps in training and funding and an industry driven to produce returns for investors has resulted in a system that is failing both patients and workers, said Ontario Health Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra. "Care is about relationships. The con- tinuity of that care and that relationship (between patient and caregiver) is funda- mental," Mehra said. "And that is broken. That is completely broken." Twenty years of Ontario Health Coalition studies of long-term care show that "the profit motive contorts all of the approaches to care and it absolutely corrupts the care re- lationships," Mehra said. To the extent that care can be measured, the numbers speak against for-profit care. "Overwhelmingly, the studies show that the for-profits are much worse," said Mehra. The problems in Ontario are not isolated, said Catholic Health Alliance of Canada president and CEO Michael Shea. "Recently we had a call involving a variety of people connected with Catholic health services across North America (and) with officials at the Vatican," Shea wrote in an e-mail. "The discussion brought into focus that this world-wide crisis (COVID- 19) is highlighting the marginalization of the elderly in many countries. This is defi- nitely a concern for Catholic health care."
'Normal' church has a long way to go
Profit motive blamed in long-term care crisis
Scenes like this one with packed pews in the Cathedral Basilica of Christ the King in Hamilton, Ont., will be a long time coming because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Photo courtesy Diocese of Hamilton)
Jean Echlin
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