Expert Advisory Report
Thomas Wellner
President and CEO, Revera Inc.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been extremely difficult and cruel; our hearts have been broken too many times throughout this pandemic. It has caused us all to re-examine what we value and prioritize in our lives.
In early June we made a decision to make the unorthodox move of engaging a panel of independent experts from diverse fields of health care to explore what happened in our homes during the first wave, and how we could prevent the pandemic from causing further suffering.
Through the eyes of an operator that experienced the COVID-19 fight head-on, within the context of the healthcare and social systems in which we all exist, my sincere hope is that readers will find this report illuminating and helpful as the pandemic rages on.
Chair, Expert Advisory Panel
When Tom Wellner, Revera’s President and CEO, asked me to help organize an Expert Advisory Panel to review the Revera experience during the first Canadian wave of COVID-19, it was easy to say yes. We were fortunate to recruit national and international experts in public health, infection prevention, infectious disease, geriatric care, labour/management principles and architectural design to serve on this Expert Advisory Panel.
A Perfect Storm: The COVID-19 Experience for Revera and Long Term Care is dedicated to Revera’s employees, residents, their families, and everyone on the front lines of the senior living sector who are working through the worst pandemic in living history.
Our Expert Advisory Panel
- Dr. Bob Bell, Chair, Former Ontario Deputy Minister of Health and former President and CEO of University Health Network. Dr. Bell agreed to participate in and chair this advisory committee. Revera agreed that Dr. Bell will have final editorial approval of the committee’s report.
- Dr. Diana Anderson, Healthcare architect and board-certified internist, Dochitect
- Bob Bass, Bass Associates Professional Corporation
- Dr. Vivek Goel, Vice President, Research and Innovation at the University of Toronto; Founding President and CEO, Public Health Ontario
- Santiago Kunzle, Director and Principal, Montgomery Sisam Architects Inc.
- Dr. Mark Loeb, Professor, Departments of Pathology and Molecular Medicine and Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University
- Dr. Allison McGeer, Professor, Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto
- Michael Nicin, Executive Director, National Institute on Ageing, Ryerson University
- Dr. Krystyna Ostrowska, Medical Microbiologist/Infectious Disease Specialist, Trillium Health Partners and LifeLabs, and Lecturer, University of Toronto
- Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Geriatrics, Sinai Health System and the University Health Network, Director of Health Policy Research, National Institute on Ageing, Ryerson University
This report is dedicated to Revera’s employees, residents, their families, and all those on the front lines of the senior living sector who are working through the worst pandemic in living history.
Download the full report