Care home residents go without baths, change of clothes

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This article was published 04/01/2022 (989 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The sudden loss of staff due to COVID-19 at more than a dozen Winnipeg nursing homes has made it tough for some to bathe and change residents’ clothing.

Twenty-four employees at the 200-bed Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre care home in southwest Winnipeg have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 10 days, chief executive officer Laurie Cerqueti said Wednesday.

“It’s not any one particular area that’s been hit,” Cerqueti said. “In the one week of this wave, we’ve had more staff test positive than in seven weeks of outbreak in wave two.”

Cerqueti said remaining employees focus on providing essential care and rely on designated caregivers and volunteers.

Tub baths and showers have been replaced by sponge baths, linens are only being changed if wet or soiled, and some residents are given hospital gowns or wear the same clothes repeatedly to cut down on dressing time and laundry.

At least three other care homes in Winnipeg have taken similar steps while staff recover from infections.

“Many of the things that we have done… are what needs to be done when you just don’t have the staff,” Cerqueti said. “We’ve stabilized a little bit the last couple days but over the weekend it was very difficult.”

Cerqueti said the Simkin Centre has requested extra staff resources from the provincial COVID-19 relief pool, but as of Wednesday no one had been made available.

“Unfortunately the region, or Shared Health has no extra resources to offer to us,” Cerqueti said. “We’re doing the very best we can with what we have to keep our residents safe.”

She said the basic care needs of residents are being met at this time and eight staff who caught COVID-19 have been able to return to their positions.

However, Cerqueti said other employees are not well enough to return to work, despite being permitted to do so under new public health orders that cut isolation requirements from to five days from 10 days.

She expects more staff to call in sick in the wake of New Year’s Eve gatherings and is preparing accordingly. One resident has tested positive so far.

“We have a really good plan and we have a really fantastic team that’s gone above and beyond,” Cerqueti said. “I think we’re in a position to manage.”

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority lists 16 long-term care facilities as currently having COVID-19 outbreaks. A request for an interview with Gina Trinidad, regional lead for community and continuing care was declined.

In a statement, a spokesman for the health authority said staffing shortages due to illness and isolation requirements are affecting most health care facilities in Winnipeg.

“We are monitoring the situation closely, and processes are in place currently to redeploy staff from other WRHA service areas to PCHs if required, including to any PCH experiencing an outbreak,” the statement said.

Michelle Porter, University of Manitoba professor and director of the Centre on Aging, said care home residents are being treated without dignity once again.

“It is heartbreaking and incredibly disappointing that this far into the pandemic, there are still no tangible ways to deal with staffing shortages in personal care homes in Manitoba,” Porter said. “This is particularly problematic as the government has been incredibly reluctant to institute restrictions that would keep community transmission in check.”

Porter questioned why the health authority has not been able to provide staffing assistance to homes that have requested help despite making assurances processes are in place.

“The fact that we are still in code orange when residents are being treated in an appalling way, suggests that our whole system is broken,” she said. “Some lives are being valued much more than others.”

The Free Press requested an interview with Health Minister Audrey Gordon on Wednesday but received a written statement from her office.

“Reassignment of staff within sites/sectors and across sites/sectors are being used to ensure that areas of greatest need and most critical service remain operational and able to provide safe care,” the statement said.

Last month, the province’s redeployment and recruitment team sent 39 staff to personal care homes and requests for help from across the province are being reviewed, the statement said.

“While these are not easy decisions, they are being made based on clinical criteria by experts working across the health system,” the statement said.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca