Three more long-term care residents die of COVID-19 in Mississauga

Schlegel Villages, which operates 19 long-term care and retirement villages across Ontario, recently announced that three more people have died of COVID-19 in its Mississauga facilities.

The announcement came on April 14, the day the province announced plans to redeploy health care resources to help curb the deadly spread of the novel coronavirus in Ontario’s nursing and long-term care facilities.

Earlier this week, Dr. Theresa Tam, the chief public health officer, said over half of COVID-19 deaths recorded across Canada have occurred in nursing and long-term care homes.

Schlegel Villages says that two of the three most recent deaths occurred in its Village of Erin Meadows facility. The third death took place in its Erin Mills Lodge facility. 

According to the organization’s website, the most recent deaths occurred on April 13. 

The April 13 deaths were announced just days after Schlegel Villages said that three other residents died of the virus at its Erin Meadows facility.

“The teams in all of our Villages continue to do outstanding work in the face of the immense challenge of COVID-19, and we’re grateful to say that no new villages have any confirmed cases as of today,” Schlegel Villages wrote on its website on April 14. 

“It saddens us deeply, however, to report there were two COVID-19 related deaths in the Meadowvale long-term care neighbourhoods of Erin Meadows yesterday (April 13). We also lost one resident to confirmed COVID-19 at Erin Mills Lodge. Our sincerest condolences go out to the loved ones and the teams there as they cope with these losses.”

According to the Schlegel Villages website, 12 residents and 11 staff members have been diagnosed with COVID-19 at the Erin Meadows facility to date (according to data released up to April 14). 

The website says four residents and 10 staff members have been diagnosed at its Erin Mills Lodge facility.

“All said, Schlegel Villages serves approximately 5,000 residents in these 19 villages with the excellent support of some 5,600 active team members,” the organization wrote on its website.

“We want to assure everyone that should one of our villages receive confirmation of a positive COVID-19 case, team members residents and their designated representatives would be notified as quickly as possible.”

On its website, Schlegel Villages addresses PPE-related concerns by saying it’s confident in its diverse supply chain and its ability to ensure staff have “all the tools they need to safely support our residents, protect themselves and follow all Public Health guidelines/protocols.”

The Ford government is expected to pivot to protecting residents in long-term care homes from COVID-19, as the expected surge in ICU patients at Ontario hospitals has not occurred.