[community] B.C. advocate calls on province to prioritize people with Down syndrome for COVID-19 vaccine Social Sharing

[John W (personal)]

thanks Ushmish, I've been thinking a lot about this as I have a family
member in a group living situation, run by the ACL.

It is a great place to live, but as far as the ACL could explain, the home
was treated by the government as a long-term care facility, i.e the same
rules and regulations of lock-down were applied. So for months we had NO
contact, and residents were completely isolate from family. Later, visits
were allowed but very restrictive.

Now, however, with the vaccine rollout, the community seems to have
suddenly become NOT like long-term care, in that they are not included in
the first wave of vaccination despite being at high risk. Instead, we're
being told (vaguely) by the staff that residents will be covered in Wave 2
(March) - but even in that wave we have no sense of whether it will be
early or later.

The mental health implications for these folks is incalculable, not to
mention their lack of activity and social interaction is driving poorer
physical health outcomes even without COVID. It's a serious situation, but
this group of Onarians is largely invisible and -- i fear -- simply
forgotten.

I've been shaking my head and really appreciate the links you sent, so I
can advocate more effectively.

On Mon, Jan 25, 2021 at 12:55 PM Ushnish Sengupta <
ushnish.sengupta at gmail.com> wrote:

> I would like to think government plans and priorities for Covid-19 vaccine
> rollout are updated when the science indicates that specific PWD are as
> vulnerable as residents of LTC homes:
>
> News article:
>
> https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/down-syndrome-covid-priority-1.5873555
>
> Advocacy article:
>
> https://www.dsrf.org/about-us/news-&-information/dsrf-advocates-for-covid-19-vaccination-for-adults-with-down-syndrome
>
> Science article:
> https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-4986
>
> Ushnish
> --
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-- 

*John D. Willis | CE CAIP MDes*
Design & Innovation in Public Services
Toronto CANADA

Garbled text? My apologies - speech-to-text technology is still a work in
progress...