UPDATE: In the course of documenting my methodology for creating the database of licensed Long-Term Care (LTC) Homes in Ontario, I discovered that one of my software scripts had inadvertently skipped over entries for about 20 LTC Homes. I’ll post my methodology and the corrected database later today (May 11, 2020). I apologize for any inconvenience I’ve caused.
Today, the Ontario government reported that Long Term Care (LTC) homes in the province account for fully three-quarters (1,111 of 1,477) deaths related to COVID-19. Undoubtedly there will be enquiries into this pathetic situation eventually; meanwhile, as health professionals largely keep silent, amateurs have been weighing in. Yesterday, the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) published research by Rabbi Shalom Schachter LLB purporting to demonstrate that the impact of COVID-19 in LTC homes was associated with the homes’ ownership – and, particularly, with the homes’ for-profit/not-for-profit status. While some former and current leaders in the health sector have been repeating the report’s claim, others have been critical of its methodology.
We’d like to support the continuing discussion by publishing a database of all licensed LTC homes in Ontario – the sort of database that’s required to avoid sampling bias and other difficulties endemic to these kinds of studies. The database is derived from our querying the Ontario government’s Reports on Long Term Care Homes, on or about April 19, 2020. In addition to the LTC homes’ ownership and for-profit/not-for-profit status, the database indicates whether an LTC home (i) has a residents’ council, (ii) has a families’ council, and (iii) is accreditated. The association between these characteristics – taken individually and in combination – and the impact of COVID-19 in LTC homes is worth investigating.
You may download as an Excel spreadsheet – though I’d encourage everyone to use Libre Office (free and open software) instead of Microsoft Office to work with the database.
This work, including the database, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. If you should use this work, please credit Paul Allen, paul@hartallen.com.