{"id":78666,"date":"2021-08-12T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T16:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=78666"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:37:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:37:12","slug":"long-term-care-after-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/long-term-care-after-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Long-term care after the COVID-19 disaster: 3 promising ways to move forward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Long-term care after the COVID-19 disaster: 3 promising ways to move forward\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

This article is republished<\/a> from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. All photos provided by The Conversation<\/a> from various sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is no question that COVID-19 has had devastating consequences in long-term care for residents, staff and families. Media provided heart-wrenching stories<\/a> about conditions in care homes and pictures of residents peering through windows. Numerous reports have been documenting the factors<\/a> that contributed to the disaster, identifying once again what needs to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, as is often the case in disasters, there are signs of light emerging from the devastation. Here we highlight three promising developments based on our current research project, \u201cCOVID-19, Families and Long-Term Care<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family councils<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First, as we have learned through our interviews with family members, more people are participating in family councils and more family councils are becoming highly effective in shaping policies and practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A family council is composed of family and friends of a long-term care home\u2019s residents. Although family councils are allowed in Ontario\u2019s Long-Term Care Homes Act<\/a>, the groups are intended to be self-led and democratically run, and determine their own goals. Within their overall purpose of improving quality of life for residents, their roles can include education, peer support and pursuing positive changes in homes and in the long-term care system<\/a>. Whether there is a family council and how it operates varies with each home and is determined by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ontario, family councils are included in the legislation governing long-term care but are not required. Certainly, family councils have long played a critical role. But not all homes have had active councils and not all councils have taken the kind of action that pandemic practices have spurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the pandemic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n