November 3, 2020

Dr. Keefe will begin her term as Vice-Chair in January 2021, alongside Dr. Johan Fritzell from Sweden, who will become Chair.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the long-term care (LTC) and retirement home sector in Canada hard, with devastating effects in some homes. Eight in 10 COVID-19-related deaths in Canada are in LTC, double the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average.1

The report, published by the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, is based on more than 40 interviews with family partners in care, healthcare leaders and policy makers. It focuses on promising practices in six key areas that have the potential to reduce the risk of future COVID-19 outbreaks or mitigate their effects: preparation; prevention; people in the workforce; pandemic response and surge capacity; planning for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 care; and presence of family.

This report is intended to support those delivering healthcare to older adults in congregate settings – staff, managers, policy makers, family and caregiver partners and others who are all working hard to manage tough situations now, while also trying to look and plan ahead.

This report has informed a new program of work – LTC+ Acting on Pandemic Learning Together – which is being led by the CFHI and CPSI. This program has been designed to help support the LTC and retirement home sector to learn from each other and prepare for potential future waves

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with dementia is being increasingly recognised, but perhaps not fully appreciated by health-care planners and policy makers. A regularly updated report entitled Impact of COVID-19 on people with dementia, by the International Long-term Care Policy Network (ILCPN), highlights the high death rates among people with dementia worldwide. The report update on Aug 19, 2020, showed that, of deaths linked to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in care homes, 29% to 75% occurred in people with dementia across Australia, Brazil, India, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Spain, the UK, and the USA. The disproportionate effect on people with dementia is being exacerbated by restricted access to health care services, removal of face-to-face support, and interruptions to diagnoses and research

The World Alzheimer Report 2020: Design, Dignity, Dementia: dementia-related design and the built environment looks at design progress to date, best practice, pioneers and innovators, design principles, application, regional and cultural contexts, the importance of including people with dementia in every stage of the design process, and poignantly the role of design during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.