Maples care home situation ‘sickening,’ province should consider asking for military help, mayor says

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This article was published 09/11/2020 (1545 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Calling the loss of lives from COVID-19 at a north Winnipeg care facility “sickening,” Winnipeg’s mayor is urging the provincial government to take immediate action to prevent a repeat of the situation.

“The events of the last few days at Maples Personal Care Home, as we’ve come to learn, can really only be described as sickening,” Bowman told a virtual press conference Monday.

Eight people died at the facility within just 48 hours last week, including seven from COVID-19. The pandemic has claimed a total of 22 lives at the facility, while more than 120 residents and 50 staff have been infected.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Chief John Lane told media his department’s resources were devoted to the facility throughout the weekend.

Lane said the first 911 call for help from the site was received at 7:10 p.m. Friday, and a patient was taken to hospital in stable condition. At 7:12 p.m., several additional 911 calls were placed from the care home.

A WFPS team arrived to assess the site and attended to 10 more patients before leaving at 2 a.m. Saturday, Lane said. Three of those patients were taken to hospital, one in critical condition.

“Our district chief assessed the situation and realized that had we transferred all of those patients out of the Maples, all at the same time, it (would have) overwhelmed our resources in the fire paramedic service. It would (also) have overwhelmed the receiving hospitals and quite potentially could have spread COVID unnecessarily,” Lane said.

He said an ambulance staffed by paramedics was stationed at the facility overnight Saturday and overnight Sunday, when they took a combined total of five more residents to hospital.

The on-site treatment prevented 17 patients from being transported to hospital, he said, but emphasized that level of response is not sustainable.

“What we need now is for the WRHA and the care homes to step up and provide that, so they’re not relying upon us and our very strapped resources to do that,” he said.

The WFPS chief has repeatedly lobbied for 10 more ambulances and 120 more paramedics to meet Winnipeg’s demand for emergency medical services.

Bowman urging the province to take a more “proactive” pandemic response and consider calling for military help.

“Right now, it’s very clear, painfully clear, that the province needs help,” he said.

Lane declined to judge whether staff at the Maples care home appeared overwhelmed. He did call a Reddit post about the Maples incident “relatively accurate.”

The post, written by someone saying they were a paramedic, described the situation as a “nightmare,” claiming two residents had been deceased for some time when emergency crews arrived.

Lane said the devotion of WFPS resources to the Maples facility affected response times over the weekend; at one point Friday there were 10 emergency calls waiting in a queue.

The province has now launched a probe, and Winnipeg Police Service says its investigators have “initiated a preliminary assessment of the situation.”

Lane said paramedics responding to an emergency call at Parkview Place Long Term Care Home on Oct. 19 resulted in the transfer of six patients to hospital.

A spokesperson for Premier Brian Pallister said in response to the mayor’s remarks that health and safety remain the government’s top priority.

“While it may be easy to observe and criticize from afar, there are thousands of Manitobans on the front lines and in the civil service who are working extraordinarily hard to get our province through this pandemic,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

The statement added the province is working with “anyone and everyone” willing to “genuinely collaborate” on protecting Manitobans and encourages Bowman to “join ‘Team Manitoba’ so that we can work together to fight COVID.”

Joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga