Seite - 430 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
Bild der Seite - 430 -
Text der Seite - 430 -
VULNERABLE430
rectly pointed out the need for flexibility in allowing visitors to group
homes for people with intellectual disabilities.49 As this chapter was
being finalized, the British Columbia government announced a revi-
sion to its visitor policy, allowing designated representatives to assist
people with disabilities to eat, communicate, and make decisions.50
Others, including Adelina Iftene, Chapter D-5 in this volume,
have written persuasively about the urgent need to reduce the num-
ber of persons detained in prisons. COVID-19 has also confirmed the
urgent need to release people with disabilities from institutional and
congregate settings into community settings.51 Preventative deinsti-
tutionalization protects their health, as well as the health of staff and
the public.52 Reducing the number of admissions and accelerating
discharges frees up valuable health care resources.53 Depopulation
also reduces overcrowding so those remaining can practise physical
distancing.
Institutional release may raise other issues for residents unable
to return to accessible, private, or safe homes in the community.
Preventative deinstitutionalization raises the same issues that dein-
stitutionalization raised about the lack of community support for
people being released into the community that pre-existed COVID-
19. Emergency funding must be directed to municipalities and social
49. “People Living in Developmental Services Group Homes Need Access to
Essential Support Persons” (7 May 2020), online: ARCH Disability Law Centre
<CTVarchdisabilitylaw.ca/resource/arch-bulletin-on-covid-19-people-living-in-
developmental-services-group-homes-need-access-to-essential-support-per-
sons/>.
50. “B.C. Updates Policy on Hospital Visitors After Outcry Over Disabled Woman’s
Death”, CBC News (19 May 2020), online: <www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-
columbia/b-c-updates-policy-on-hospital-visitors-after-outcry-over-disabled-
woman-s-death-1.5576316>.
51. Tess Sheldon, Karen Spector & Sheila Wildeman, “Viruses Feed on Exclusion:
Psychiatric Detention and the Need for Preventative Deinstitutionalization”,
Ricochet Media (12 April 2020), online: <ricochet.media/en/3038/viruses-feed-on-
exclusion-psychiatric-detention-and-the-need- for-preventative-deinstitutional-
ization>.
52. Oliver Lewis, “Why Social Workers Should be Aiming to Get Residents Out of
Care Homes During the Pandemic”, Community Care (21 April 2020), online:
<www.communitycare.co.uk/2020/04/21/social-workers-aiming-get-residents-
care-homes-pandemic/>.
53. Bazelon Centre for Mental Health Law, “During the Pandemic, States and
Localities Must Decrease the Number of Individuals in Psychiatric Hospitals,
by Reducing Admissions and Accelerating Discharges” (15 April 2020), online
(pdf): Bazelon Centre for Mental Health Law <www.bazelon.org/wp-content/
uploads/2020/04/4-15-20-BC-psych-hospitals-statement-FINAL.pdf>.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Titel
- VULNERABLE
- Untertitel
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Autoren
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Verlag
- Ottawa Press
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Abmessungen
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Seiten
- 648
- Kategorien
- Coronavirus
- International