Luther Special Care confirms 3 more deaths, Meili wants LTC emergency action

Luther Special Care Home has confirmed three more people have died due to COVID-19.

In total, seven people have died at the long-term care facility in Saskatoon since an outbreak was declared on Nov. 17.

There are now 28 active COVID cases at the care home, according to an update on its website. Twenty-one staff have tested positive for the coronavirus since the outbreak was declared.

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Ryan Meili is calling on the province for “emergency action” due to escalating COVID-19 deaths at care homes.

“Scott Moe campaigned on the message that Saskatchewan was out of the woods, even though he knew the second wave was coming,” Meili said in a news release. “What is happening in our long-term care facilities was predictable and preventable. The government refused to act. And things are only getting worse.”

Meili’s emergency actions include calling Canada’s defence minister, Bill Blair, about what military support can be provided, hiring the 300 care aides announced in the throne speech immediately instead of in 2021, and imposing a standard of no more than two residents per room.

“We have been calling for an independent review of the struggles in long-term care since before the pandemic hit our province. It is inexcusable that this premier and this government — having the time, the resources and the experience of other provinces to draw on — sat back and delayed as COVID-19 overwhelmed our long-term care facilities,” said Meili.

“Families worried about their loved ones deserve better. Families that have lost their loved ones deserve better. The front-line staff that are saving lives deserve better.”

Meili would also like to see in-person inspections at every long-term care facility with an outbreak and make the findings of those inspections public.