Ineffective. Seniors suffering due to plans and systems that went “awry.”.That’s Auditor General Doug Wylie’s description of the result of many Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services (AHS) actions in response to COVID-19 in continuing care facilities..To recap what happened in the province’s long-term care facilities: There were 379 outbreaks, 8,300 COVID-19 cases, and 1,042 deaths, five of those staff. Dying alone. Countless broken hearts of families left to grieve. As well, in the confusion and chaos, inspections to see if crippling mandates were being followed found seniors suffering dangerous levels of dehydration, insufficient meals, inadequate pain management, neglected hygiene, and filthy rooms in some facilities..Shame!. Lt. Col. David RedmanLt. Col. Dave Redman (ret'd) .Did it have to be this way? Other options for dealing with the pandemic, protecting seniors, were offered..But health officials were put in charge of the pandemic response..That never should have happened, said Dave Redman, former head of Alberta's Emergency Management Agency. The retired lieutenant-colonel served 27 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, some of that time commanding massive strategic, operational, and tactical international logistical operations..As early as April 2020, he tried to raise the alarm about Canada’s response to COVID-19, urging provincial governments to utilize emergency pandemic/influenza plans in place. His determined efforts were stymied because of “incompetence, hubris and self-gain,” he told the Western Standard Thursday..According to Wylie’s report and what transpired, Redman was right about the mistake of putting health officials in charge. Wylie concluded in his report — COVID-19 in Continuing Care Facilities — that understaffed long-term facilities were not prepared to handle the first waves. (The report on the public health response to outbreaks in long-term facilities, was released Thursday.) His audit focused on COVID-19 in 355 publicly-funded continuing care facilities during the first two waves of the pandemic from March to December 2020..Redman tried to tell former premier Jason Kenney — all of Canada’s premiers — they were going down the wrong path, that they should focus beyond the healthcare system, that Emergency Management should and could address COVID’s impact on the whole province. Redman, whose expertise continues to be widely sought in Canada and the US, made solid recommendations, including explicit details on how to both protect seniors and health care workers in care facilities and at home..His efforts to guide the province into delivering a better response on several fronts were futile..“I wrote letter after letter after letter begging them just to phone me,” he said. “Kenney's office replied once and the Minister of Health (then Tyler Shandro) once.”.Kenney’s office messaged that they’d forward his letter to Shandro’s office..Wiser UCP politicians wanted to hear what this expert had to say. “I certainly was phoned by members of the Kenney caucus, a few ministers and more MLAs, many times.”.Redman’s name was brought up in meetings. “I was told by many who called me after these sessions that Kenney knew exactly who I was, said my name with adjectives that were not nice, and wanted me dealt with.”.Alberta’s in better hands with Premier Danielle Smith at the helm, he said. “The premier knows what I’m saying and that’s why she’s premier and Kenney’s not.”.Kenney’s COVID response had much to do with his political demise..Wylie pointed to staff shortages and outdated infrastructure as problematic. He said that the infectious disease prevention and control planning and preparedness around in place pre-pandemic was insufficient to handle COVID-19..Redman still wonders if anyone even looked at Alberta’s 2014 Pandemic Influenza Plan. Emergency agencies weren’t consulted..“Let’s start with the fact that 13 out of 13 provinces and territories had a pandemic/influenza plan. Those plans were completely ignored.”.He said elected officials are guilty of incompetence..“Incompetence because they did not do their due diligence. They knew, or should have known, that there was a pre-existing pandemic plan and that they should not have put Health in charge.”.He said medical officers of Health “for three years to this day consistently give false information.”.“They define COVID as an extreme pandemic which is dangerous to everyone in our society when it's really only dangerous to people over the age of 60 with severe multiple comorbidities, three or more.”.“We should have done targeted protection and we should have looked after our seniors while maintaining everyone else to get on with their lives.”.“The survival rate for COVID-19 in seniors over the age of 60 with severe multiple comorbidities was 97.5%. So yes, 2.5% some were dying, but 97.5% lived. The lies we’ve been told.”.However, in the first wave, 81% of the COVID deaths in Canada were in long-term care homes..“To date, 78% of all deaths in Canada from COVID happen in long-term care homes — to this day.”.Yes, people below age 60 died..“But at a rate less than seasonal influenza. There are huge papers out there now that prove that over and over, but we knew that in February 2020.”.Instead of putting Health officials in charge, a pandemic task force should have been formed “representing all sectors of the economy.’.“They never did any of that. That's incompetence.”.“The second one is hubris. Once you made a mistake, never admit a mistake.”.“In Canada, our politicians have been in lockstep. Our medical officers in health have been worse in not doing their due diligence. But hubris says never admit a mistake.”.“Number three is self-gain. Politicians in Canada saw they were getting re-elected the harder they locked down. They all figured they were going to get something out of it. Kenney’s the only one who didn’t.”.Redmond’s first letter to Kenney was followed by letters to every premier urging them to try different methods, to stop doing what they were doing..“At the end of 12 months, I gave up on the premiers and wrote a very long paper called Canada’s Deadly Response to COVID-19.”.The 160-page paper details step by step how emergency management works..“The first mistake is saying your mission statement is to protect the medical system when it should have been to protect everyone in your province.”.Redman details how non-pharmaceutical interventions — like school and business closures — should never be used for virus like COVID-19, and why Charter rights or freedoms should be protected..Wrong mission statements affected mental health, societal health, children’s education, delays in treatment for other problems, caused economic devastation, and “destruction of our democracy.”.Meanwhile, health workers went from one facility to another. “But we didn’t put priority on rapid testing for a year and-a-half.”.Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, didn’t seem to get it..“Deena Henshaw acted shocked and surprised in May of 2020 when suddenly things were exploding, and she said they were trying to figure out how to stop staff working in multiple long-term care homes because they’re spreading it from one to the next.”.“I just screamed at the TV.”.Would things have been different if someone had listened to Redman...
