Toronto Star - ‘I am ecstatic’: Relaxing of rules means long-term-care residents can now enjoy outdoor visits with family

By: Maria Sarrouh

“I think this is going to be a huge opportunity for people to finally restore some of the dignity and quality of life, especially for residents living in our long-term-care homes,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research and Director of Geriatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. While he “welcomes” the change, he said it’s “long overdue.”

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Toronto Star - We’re so close to the pandemic being over. Let’s not mess this up

By: Bruce Arthur

Kids under 12 still can’t be vaccinated yet, though at least they’re the least at risk. Variants are still a wild card. The ICUs remain overfull, and the decline of patients has stalled in the high 700s for a system that used to say 150 was difficult; without functioning intensive care a society will have trouble functioning. From cancelled surgeries to deferred doctors’ visits to undercounted mortality, the bill in this province has been run very high — for all the suffering, we’re not done. As Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA and a member of the science table, puts it, “many of the deaths have been deferred.”

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CBC News - The push to loosen visitor restrictions in LTC

Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, joined CBC Toronto to discuss families pleading with the government to loosen visitor restrictions, at least for outdoor visits in long-term care homes.

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Reader's Digest Canada - Here’s Why You Need to Go For a Walk Every Single Day

By: Christina Frangou

Hospitals have also begun to embrace the value of walking. At Mount Sinai in Toronto, older patients weren’t always encouraged to get up from bed because of the risk of falling. About ten years ago, that changed. Assisted by doctors, nurses and volunteers, patients are now prompted to walk to the bathroom, explore the hallways and get out of bed to eat their meals.

Since that change, fewer patients require catheters and suffer pressure ulcers. On average, they spend less time in the hospital. “Every day that an older person is in bed, they lose five per cent of their physical functioning,” says Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA. "So getting them up and walking can reduce the chance that grandma might not be able to return home.”

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Global News - Vaccine uptick a chance to get Canada’s most vulnerable a 2nd dose — and sooner

By: Rachael D'Amore

“The thinking was: Let’s get as many first doses into people’s arms as quickly as possible because some protection is better than no protection,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, who led advocacy for seniors over the age of 70 to be prioritized for vaccinations in Ontario’s Phase 1.

“While that’s a really good strategy that works well in young people … We know that strategy doesn’t work as well in older people.”

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Global News - Canada may see 4th COVID-19 wave if restrictions eased too quickly, experts warn

By: Saba Aziz

“There is a lot of fear right now that if we reopen too soon, that we could trigger a fourth wave,” said Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA.

“If many people have first dose vaccinations … it may not be as catastrophic as previous waves that we’ve seen before,” Sinha added.

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insauga- OPINION: It’s time for Doug Ford to stop deflecting and work towards reopening Brampton, Mississauga and Ontario

By: Ashley Newport

Citing a Public Health Ontario report, Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA, called Ford's hyperfocus on the border "a distraction."

"[Doug Ford] continues to assert that tightening federal borders will help drive Ontario’s case counts down much faster. In the last week, just 318 of 25,001 (1.3 per cent) of COVID19 cases in Ontario were travel-related," Stall said in a tweet.

"This is nothing but a distraction."

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Ontario accelerates shots for all adults, while hotspots receive fewer vaccines

Nathan Stall, a geriatrician and member of the province’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, said the extra supply to hot spots was desperately needed two weeks ago. But now, he said, supply isn’t the only issue in some communities. He noted some clinics had been struggling to fill appointments and opened up eligibility to anyone over 18 in Toronto on the weekend.

He said more focus needs to be on reaching homebound seniors who aren’t able to travel to clinics, as well as providing second doses to seniors in hot spots.

“I think that’s where the extra supply definitely could have been used,” he said. “A lot of these clinics are hamstrung because they would like to be able to provide second doses to 90-year-olds and they’re having to turn them away at the door, literally.”

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How do we convince the ‘maybes’ to get the COVID-19 vaccine? This nursing home has answers for Ontario

The Wexford is a not-for-profit nursing home on a busy commercial strip in a COVID-19 hot spot in Scarborough. Bassett, the CEO and executive director, had learned a week earlier that the home would be among the first in Ontario to be offered vaccinations.

Long-term-care operators across the province face a challenge that threatened the goal of protecting vulnerable seniors: staff were not initially signing up in large numbers. It was up to people like Bassett and her team to address the hesitancy. But how?

“Trust is the absolute bedrock of a successful vaccination program,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA. “The rest is just logistics.”

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'We are not out of the woods yet': Ontario extends stay-at-home order until at least June 2

Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA, said in a tweet that just 1.6 per cent of Ontario’s COVID-19 cases have been travel related. “Ford’s claim that Ontario’s third wave of COVID-19 was driven by our porous borders is simply untrue.”

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Calls growing to expand visits in Ontario long-term-care homes as vaccinated residents still can’t see family

As of May 11th, 96 per cent of residents and 53 per cent of long-term-care staff are fully vaccinated, with 86 per cent of staff having received at least one jab, according to the Ministry of Long-Term Care. As well, 98 per cent of essential caregivers — often family members who are allowed in long-term care homes — have had their first dose.

“The time is now to continue to liberate these residents from the restrictions they’re living under,” said Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA. “The only metric we look at cannot be COVID-19 cases and deaths. We need to consider the humanity of what we’re doing … for many people, we are robbing them of a very limited amount of time they have left on this planet.”

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You’ll save more lives': Calls grow for sooner second-doses for elderly as Ontario expands eligibility

More than 90 per cent of deaths that have occurred among partially-vaccinated people are in older adults, said Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA. Still, he said, the incoming levels of Pfizer supply should make it possible to prioritize elderly patients for second doses while still immunizing younger people.

“I don’t think we necessarily need to be thinking about out as an ‘either-or,’” he said.

“Now that the supply has changed, we need to change our course and nuance our strategy a bit, and that’s circling back and making sure that we [fully] vaccinate our older adults.”

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Dr. Samir Sinha: Impact of COVID-19 on Long-Term Care in Canada

Long-term care homes have the highest rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Canada. The pandemic has revealed deeply concerning issues with the state of these facilities. We speak with Dr. Samir Sinha, the Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, about the root causes of these issues and how they are being addressed.

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Failing long-term care homes

Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, joined CTV National News to discuss the future of long term care after the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Fullerton Responds to Long-Term Care Report

Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, joined CTV News Channel to discuss Fullerton's response to the long-term care report.

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Long term care: Are things any better?

Geriatrician Dr. Nathan Stall, Assistant Scientific Director for the COVID 19 Science Advisory Table and Associate Fellow at the NIA, says homes are safer now than a year ago because of vaccines. But callers say staff are exhausted and caring for too many residents.

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Resident isolation, staffing remain significant concerns in Ontario long-term care centres

Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, said those restrictions, which included limiting visits from family members, had profound mental health effects on residents, and included the worsening of loneliness, social isolation, depression and dementia.

Now, with almost every resident vaccinated, and the risks of outbreaks significantly declined, Sinha said the burden of the restrictions are probably doing more harm than good.

"And I think a lot of people are losing hope because we're not re-opening homes in the way we should."

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Ontario will transfer of hospital patients to LTCs without consent

Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, joined Kelly to discuss transferring COVID-19 patients in to long-term care homes.

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Family of 99-year-old Holocaust survivor homebound in Toronto pleads for COVID-19 vaccine

Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, led advocacy for seniors over the age of 70 to be prioritized for vaccinations in phase one. He told Global News he feels terrible for seniors like Frieda who are still waiting to be vaccinated.

He said the issue is not only the supply of the Moderna vaccination, which is best suited to in-home vaccinations since it travels well, but also a lack of vaccinations.

Sinha said roughly 6,000 seniors in Toronto have been registered for in-home COVID-19 vaccinations. But Toronto Public Health reported only around 2,300 people have gotten a shot.

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COVID-19 patients can now be transferred into long-term care homes without consent

Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, joined CTV Your Morning to discuss his thoughts on the province's new plan of transferring COVID-19 patients in to long-term care homes.

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