Community group to gain control of nursing home for Korean seniors
By: Karen Howlett
Samir Sinha, the director of health policy research at the NIA who advised Arirang on its initial bid, said the latest deal is a “sweet victory” for the community. “It’s one of the very few silver linings in the pandemic.”
Corbella: Alberta takes big steps to improve long-term care, but is it enough?
By: Licia Corbella
Increasing home care is the best and least costly way to care for frail seniors, says Dr. Samir Sinha, the director of health policy research at the NIA. “We have a recent study that shows that almost 100 per cent of seniors plan to live independently in their own homes; that’s up from pre-pandemic times,” says Sinha, who is also the director of health policy research at the NIA. “If we give them what they want, this will save the health-care system and the long-term care system a lot of money while enhancing their lives and keeping them connected to community.”
Bingo, movie nights: COVID-19 outbreaks plummet in LTC homes as vaccines bring relief
Dr. Samir Sinha, director of health policy research at the NIA, said the vaccines are starting to bear fruit for the country’s most vulnerable population.
“What we’re seeing right now is that in many of the provinces where we’ve actually vaccinated pretty much our entire LTC populations, we’re actually starting to see that deaths are plummeting and outbreaks are plummeting in those settings.
This is what you'll need to keep in mind when we're able to travel again
Dr. Samir Sinha, director of health policy research at the NIA, joined Marilyn Denis to discuss what to consider when we're able to travel again and how to stay safe and healthy while travelling.
‘A lot of unnecessary deaths’: Geriatrician Samir Sinha on Ontario’s vaccine plan
Some experts, such as geriatrician Samir Sinha, are questioning the province’s approach to vaccine prioritization and arguing that it puts older Ontarians at risk. TVO.org speaks with Sinha, the director of health policy research at the NIA, about the best-and worst-case scenarios for seniors — and the future of long-term care in the province.
COVID-19 hit long-term care homes harder in second wave
By: Karen Howlett
Samir Sinha, the director of health policy research at the NIA and co-author of the report, said the province fared so poorly during the first wave because it had an earlier spring break, which sent thousands of Quebeckers on overseas trips just as the worldwide health crisis erupted.
In face of deadly pandemic, Ontario long-term care homes continue breaking COVID-19 safety rules
"To have egregious infractions in terms of not following standard operating procedure for things like infection prevention and control, these operators need to be held to account," said Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA.
Corbella: The coming grey wave of boomers will overwhelm society if we don't act now
By: Licia Corbella
When Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald started to work on the 2019 report called The Future Cost of Long-Term Care in Canada, she and her co-authors all agreed: “We didn’t want the report to be alarmist in any way. We didn’t want it to say that ‘Canada is facing a grey tsunami.'”
If AstraZeneca isn't widely recommended for seniors, who should get the vaccine?
Dr. Samir Sinha, director of health policy research at the NIA, understands where NACI’s caution is coming from. He said the decision was based on the evidence at hand and with the intention of guiding the best public health response.
“It’s not that NACI is saying, ‘No, these shouldn’t be used in older people,’ they’re just saying, right now, we don’t have enough data to actually recommend its use in people older than 65. And that’s actually congruent with what many European countries have come up with.”
Supply issue slows COVID-19 vaccinations in Toronto for people 80 and older
By: Laura Stone
Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA, who is on the advisory table, said he has concerns with the way Ontario has structured its vaccine prioritization. He said the province created “havoc” by not launching its booking system earlier with clear criteria for who should get their shots.
“That’s what’s most concerning to me about this. … It has the end result ultimately of slowing down vaccination coverage for older adults,” he said.
Daughter alleges PSW exposed her elderly parents to COVID-19 in their home
Dr. Samir Sinha, director of health policy research at the NIA, said home care workers need to wear proper PPE to mitigate risks. "When we hear cases like this, it just reminds us how we can't let our guards down," he said.
Merrilee Fullerton failed Ontarians in long-term-care. But if you’re pointing fingers make sure you have enough
Dr. Samir Sinha, the director of health policy research at the NIA , points out that British Columbia moved faster in the first wave by spending $10 million a month to offer full-time staffing and pay bumps. And that Quebec — after a brutal Wave 1 in long-term care — managed to get it under control with a staffing campaign that started in May 2020, four months before Ontario’s, and an IPAC official in every home.
Canada approves Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for immediate use
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, says the AstraZeneca vaccine approval is great news, but there is still doubt about whether it is effective in older people.
Doctors, caregivers push for in-home COVID-19 vaccinations for housebound seniors
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA and Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA, spoke about the need to vaccinate homebound older adults. Some geriatricians are also dismissing the suggestion that unique storage and handling requirements prevent home-based deployment of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, both often described as delicate and tricky to transport.
Vaccinating Ontarians over 80
Ontarians over 80 years of age can now expect to start getting vaccinated by the third week of March. But, older adults are still pretty much left in the dark about how the rollout will happen. So, where do we go from here? Libby Znaimer is joined by Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA.
The government's priorities are wrong: Dr. Nathan Stall on who should get the vaccine first
The slow vaccine rollout is at the cost of senior's lives says NIA Associate Fellow, Dr. Nathan Stall.
Geriatrician disappointed with ON’s ‘ageist’ vaccine rollout
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA joined The Morning Show to discuss Ontario's COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
Ontario won’t launch COVID-19 vaccination booking system until March 15
By: Laura Stone
Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Mount Sinai and the University Health Network hospitals in Toronto, called on the province to move much faster to vaccinate people over 60, who represent 96 per cent of deaths from COVID-19, ahead of other groups such as essential workers.
“With variants of concern that are circulating around and becoming the dominant strain, we’re really worried that we’re going to lose a lot more older people along the way,” Dr. Sinha said.
For-profit LTC ownership a significant factor in second-wave deaths: Government analysis
The next step the government and the for-profit long-term care sector should take is acknowledging that the research signifies a problem, said Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA and the lead author of the wave one study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
"Let's look at the sector with a deep dive, let's strive to improve quality within our homes so that we can actually save lives and improve the care that we're providing residents," said Stall.
Frustrating timelines for COVID-19 vaccine roll out
Many of Ontario's oldest residents are at least a month away from their first #COVID19 vaccination. Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA discusses with CTV News.
