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Workers are ‘terrified,’ families feel helpless as COVID-19 deaths begin to spike again in long-term-care homes

Posted: November 15, 2020

(November 14, 2020)

By: Gilbert Ngabo, The Star

John Bateman's wife Norma on a recent visit at The Village of Erin Meadows home in Mississauga.

John Bateman’s family is very worried.

For the past few days, the 81-year-old resident of The Village of Erin Meadows retirement home in Mississauga has developed a fever. But when the family tried to get him tested for COVID-19, they were told there weren’t any testing kits available.

“It’s very stressful and we are really concerned about what is going to happen to his life going forward,” said his daughter Sarah Bateman.

She has first-hand experience with outbreaks in long-term care.

Back in March when COVID-19 first hit and healthcare officials were scrambling to stop its spread, her father was sharing a room with someone who had tested positive. Soon after, he contracted the virus and Bateman says home care management wouldn’t let the family take her father to the hospital, saying they would not welcome him back.

“They basically pretty much put him on (his) death bed,” she said.

Bateman’s claims and those of other residents at Erin Meadows are represented in a class action lawsuit launched by Will Davidson LLP, alleging the facility failed to implement measures to prevent COVID-19 infections. That failure, the lawsuit alleges, put residents’ life at risk and contributed to the outbreak that caused 21 deaths at the facility, which is owned by Schlegel Villages Inc., by June.

The claims have not been proven in court. The company has repeatedly said it has followed the “guidance and protocols set out by government and public health officials” and that the allegations will be addressed through the “proper legal processes.”

Bateman has recovered, but now that Ontario is reporting more COVID-19 outbreaks at long-term care homes, his family is fearing the worst during the second coming of the pandemic.

Earlier this week, it was reported that an outbreak at Kennedy Lodge Long Term Care Home in Scarborough caused 29 deaths and a total of 92 positive cases among its residents in a span of one month.

A recent Star analysis of available data showed that for-profit long-term care homes — both Kennedy Lodge and Erin Meadows are as owned by private companies — are seeing worse outcomes than the non-profit facilities.

During the second wave, residents in private homes are three times more likely to catch the virus than those in non-profit homes, and the death toll is also higher, according to the analysis.

One of the major reasons the outbreaks are returning in full force in the second wave is because an increasing number of personal support workers (PSWs) are getting overwhelmed and giving up, said Sharleen Stewart, president of SEIU Healthcare, the union representing frontline workers.

“The workers are terrified. We are at a worse staff crisis level now than we were back when the first wave hit us,” said Stewart, who noted that about 30 per cent of staff in nursing homes are not returning to work for fear of risking their lives and those of their families.

“They feel like not enough sense of urgency is being felt at Queen’s Park to address the very life-threatening issues in the long-term care industry.”

Stewart said the union believes the Provincial government “never had a plan” to contain the second wave of the pandemic, and did not do the groundwork required to get ready, especially over the summer months, when infection numbers were down.

It’s especially frustrating that all advice from healthcare workers and medical experts keep “falling on deaf ears” as there are no proper infection prevention and control measures in place, she said.

Working in long-term-care homes can be mentally taxing for PSWs on the frontlines, and all the “nice words” from government and partial increase of their salaries happens only when their lives are at risk, said Stewart.

“They’re feeling like they are temporarily valued and they just aren’t going to put up with that anymore. To watch the government and the for-profit employers not do what needs to be done … it’s just frustrating and these workers are tired of it,” she said.

“I hate to be as blunt, but I guarantee you it’s going to get worse.”

Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, said staffing remains at critically low levels. In some places, she said, the ratio is at one PSW for 30 residents.

“Staffing in long-term-care homes was a crisis before COVID-19, and now it is worse than it was prior to the pandemic,” she said. This is in addition to infection control processes being inadequate; frontline workers have reported a severe lack of N95 masks, not enough gowns and gloves for a PSW to change between residents, among many other issues.

“We’re not epidemiologists at the coalition, but what’s clear is that there was no plan for the Fall. It just appears that they’re making things up as they go,” she said of the government’s reopening process and its management of the second wave.

Ontario needs a “systematic approach” to stop the spread of COVID-19, and it should start with “hiring an army of staff and PSWs,” said Mehra. She gave the example of Quebec, where 10,000 PSWs were trained in June and sent into the nursing homes to help contain the outbreaks, at a pay rate of $26 per hour.

“This needed to happen here months ago,” said Mehra. “This is not a question of saving the economy versus protecting people.

“We need to ensure we protect people first.”

Bateman’s daughter said the family has taken him out of the shared room and moved him into a private one, which costs about $3,000 per month. She said she’s going through periods of anxiety and depression because of everything happening in her family. Dealing with Stage 4 cancer, her mother is in palliative care.

“I wish I could take him out of there, but I can’t take care of him myself. I honestly feel like I’m killing him by leaving him in there, and it just breaks my heart to even think about it,” she said.

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