Family members of residents at hard hit Tendercare Living Nursing Home in Scarborough were given an opportunity to share their concerns in a virtual town hall meeting Sunday evening.

“We’re still not getting updates that we really require,” said a man named Calvin who’s mother is a resident at Tendercare, “We’ve been calling them and leaving voice messages and trying our luck if they have time to return our call.”

The “Save Our Seniors” townhall was hosted by NDP MPP Doly Begum who represents the Scarborough-Southwest riding where Tendercare is located, along with long term care advocate Dr. Vivian Stamatopolous.

“It’s a really upsetting time for families and I think it’s really important that we really focus on what they need and what they’re worried about while also pushing for immediate crisis interventions because it’s not just Tendercare,” said Stamatopolous.

Dr. Stamatopolous says Long Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton was invited to the townhall but did not attend.

Dr. Fullerton has been the focus of a campaign by the Zoomers’ advocacy group CARP calling for Premier Doug Ford to fire his long term care minister for failing to protect nursing home residents in the second wave of COVID-19. You can add your name to the petition by clicking here.

Hours before the virtual meeting, North York General Hospital, which recently took over management of Tendercare, reported two more residents have died after contracting COVID-19, bringing the total of confirmed virus related deaths at Tendercare since the outbreak began on December 9th to 62.