Page - 463 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

CHAPTER E-2 A View from the Front Lines of a COVID-19 Outbreak Jane Philpott* Abstract This chapter offers a narrative of a COVID-19 outbreak at Participation House Markham. It is a not-for-profit group home for adults with disabilities, established in 1972 by the Cerebral Palsy Parent Council of Toronto. With this outbreak, 95% of the home’s residents were infected. Six of them died. Fifty-seven workers were infected. The story illustrates themes discussed elsewhere in this book, but focuses particularly on the role of the labour force in a care home. It notes the pre-pandemic vulnerability of any congregate setting without a full staffing complement. In any group home or long-term care facility, an infectious outbreak exacerbates workforce challenges, as workers may be exposed to the virus; become ill; or become restricted to a sin- gle place of employment. By describing the clinical cases of three resi- dents in one group home, this chapter demonstrates why the shortage of nurses, personal support workers, kitchen staff, and others, would trigger a crisis in this institution or others like it. The chapter includes policy recommendations that are amplified elsewhere in this section. These could contribute to a national review of how to provide resi- dential care for people living with disabilities in a manner that is safe, healthy, and dignified. * Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences (Queen’s University), and former Minister of Health (Canada).