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This article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on long-term care facilities in Ontario, Canada. The authors argue that the situation in these facilities can be considered a disaster and analyze it using a disaster framework. They discuss various factors that contributed to the disaster, such as the emergence of the virus, staffing and infrastructure issues, and policy decisions. The article emphasizes the importance of learning from this experience to improve preparedness for future disasters and calls for better government policies and response systems in the healthcare sector. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on long-term care in Canada, exacerbating an existing crisis of staff shortages, inadequate infrastructure and funding, into a disaster. In response, the province of Ontario enacted emergency legislation and requested federal government support, resulting in the deployment of personnel from the Canadian Armed Forces and acute care hospitals into long-term care homes across the province. This exploratory study aims to develop a rich description of the long-term care context during the pandemic, deployed personnel's perspectives on providing care in the context, and identification of lessons learned while working during the pandemic. Method: Descriptive exploratory design with demographic questionnaire and semi-structured interviews will be used to understand the background and perspective of deployed personnel and managers on working in long-term care during the pandemic. Thematic analysis will be used to analyze the transcripts, organize codes, and identify and describe major themes. Findings will also be compared with disaster literature to understand how the perspectives of deployed personnel compare with existing disaster research. Results: 21 interviews were initially conducted. Analysis of these interviews identified key challenges experienced by those deployed, including human resources, leadership and accountability, and policies and regulations. Perspectives and strategies for overcoming these challenges were also shared. Conclusion: The scale, duration, and context of the redeployment of personnel into long-term is unprecedented and has seen little research. This exploratory study shares the experiences of personnel who deployed into long-term care and helps identify lessons learned from overcoming challenges in the disaster context. These findings will be able to inform future disaster research and how to better prepare responders in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 crisis in long-term care in Canada has been characterized as a crisis upon a crisis. This study examines recent documents on the crisis in long-term care in Ontario, using document and thematic analysis to synthesize issues and recommendations from the perspectives of different groups and organizations. Thirty-three documents from 20 organizations were analysed and six thematic areas were identified: resident care; human resources; governance, leadership and management; financing; physical infrastructure and supplies; and training and preparation. The six common themes, as perceived by different perspectives, can inform policy makers on long-term care issues., (Copyright © 2022 Longwoods Publishing.)