'It's got to change': Thunder Bay rally calls for more support in long-term care homes

Don Murray knows first-hand how difficult things are for residents and workers, at Ontario's long-term care homes.

"I had both my mother and my wife in long term care for three and a half years, they both went in at the same time," Murray said Monday. "They both died last year. My mother from just general old age, she had her 100th birthday last year and then died."

"My wife had Alzheimer's," he said. "It's just the progressive thing. And she passed away in September of last year."

Murray was one of about 100 people who attended a rally in Thunder Bay on Monday, during which participants called for improved support for Ontario's long-term care homes. It was one of several rallies that took place across the province.

Murray, who's retired, said he was regularly spending 10-to-12 hours a day in one of the facilities, seven days a week, to spend time with his wife.

"I got to know the staff," he said. "I got to know the procedures in the home. I knew where the staffing board was, and as I walked by when I came in, I could see there were vacancies all the time."

"There should have been four staff on," he said. "Sometimes there is two, and they were trying to steal another staff person from another floor or whatever. And it's impossible for two people to look after 32 people."