Ontario-based long-term care company suddenly deletes its Twitter account

The Twitter account for the multinational long-term care corporation Revera Living has vanished.

The Twitter account for the multinational long-term care corporation Revera Living has vanished.

Jo-Anne Beggs was among the first to wonder what happened and to ask why.

“On January 5, I tried to post a tweet to Revera and couldn’t. The screen came up ‘try again.’ Others responded and we realized the account was gone,” said Beggs, a registered social worker whose father is in long-term care.

The account for the Mississauga, Ont.-based long-term care operator — owned by the federal Public Sector Pension Investment Board — quietly and suddenly disappeared from the social media space just as Omicron cases were rising in number and the Ontario government re-established a wide range of restrictions, including prohibiting most general visits to residents in LTC facilities.

“Why would they do this?” Beggs asked about the decision to shut off contact through Twitter.

“Revera is the holder of the homes our loved ones live in, pay steeply for, and are suffering in,” Beggs said in an email to Global News, questioning the corporation’s decision to cut off public accountability through Twitter.

Her 94-year-old father resides in a Revera home in the Toronto area. Her mother died at the same home in October 2020.

Especially since the outset of the pandemic, many families of long-term care residents have used Twitter to raise safety concerns about their loved ones. Long-term care facilities were hit hardest with outbreaks and deaths during COVID-19.