Howard Raper says his mentally challenged daughter and countless others like her are being ignored when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Raper’s daughter, Barbra, is a 58-year-old who suffers from brain damage caused at birth; she lives in a Christian Horizons group home on Barrie Road.
Raper was informed by group home staff several weeks ago that a mobile unit from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit would be coming to the home to vaccinate residents and staff in the near future. It has still not happened.
“I knew that the long-term care homes were pretty well all covered, so I figured it would only be a few days before my daughter, the residents, and staff are vaccinated,” Raper said.
“The staff still hasn’t heard anything from the health unit, which is very concerning.”
The 83-year-old Raper has an appointment for his COVID-19 vaccination next week, while his 78-year-old wife has been pre-registered, leaving him wondering why his daughter is left waiting.
“It just seems that these care homes for the mentally challenged are being ignored,” he said.
“I’m in the same situation as somebody who’s got a senior living in a nursing home: I haven’t been able to visit my daughter, I haven’t had any physical contact with her, and it’s been a long time now," said the frustrated Orillia man.
Raper believes that folks living with mental challenges should be a higher priority for the health unit as he says a lot of them are more at risk.
“Some of the residents have some real physical problems,” my daughter is diabetic for example,” he explained.
“I think a lot of the residents in those homes have more than a mental problem, they have physical health problems that put them more at risk.”
In a written statement to OrilliaMatters, Leslie Gordon, an official with the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, says the province has set up the priority list based on identifying Ontario’s oldest citizens as at the highest risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.
“Our data, as highlighted on our HealthSTATS pages, unfortunately, has shown that seniors 80 years of age and older have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, having the highest case fatality rate," she said.
Gordon adds that people who live and work in high-risk congregate settings - for example, shelters and community living scenarios such as Barbra Raper, will be eligible to receive the vaccine in Phase 2, which is scheduled to take place from April to July, depending on vaccine supply.
