The deplorable state of so many of the country’s long term care facilities was fully revealed by the coronavirus pandemic.  At the end of September 2020, close to 10,000 people had died from the coronavirus. More than 80% of them were elderly people living in long-term care facilities. The conditions were so bad that, in Ontario and Quebec, the Canadian military was called upon to help mitigate the disaster.  The conditions they found were appalling. And their experience demonstrated that, despite numerous studies, coroners’ reports, and inquests over the past two decades, our institutional care of the elderly is often unspeakably inhumane.

Canada’s award-winning health reporter André Picard has just written a book about it called Neglected No More: The Urgent Need to Improve the Lives of Canada's Elders in the Wake of a Pandemic, which expertly lays out what can and must be done to improve the state of care for our elders. We are delighted to have him with us today for this episode of Talking UP.

Talking UP is an interview show dedicated to writers, journalists and authors working on issues of social justice, equity, and the nonprofit sector. Guests talk about their reporting and research, what drives their work, and what’s important to them. Listeners will have the opportunity to widen their lens, develop their understanding and figure out where we might go from here.