Union calls for armed forces in ‘war zone’-like conditions at Hamilton long-term care home
The union representing staff at the long-term care home with Hamilton's largest outbreak is escalating its calls for help by calling on the federal government to send the army into the home.
In a letter sent Friday to the federal ministers of defence and intergovernmental affairs, the president of SEIU Healthcare, which represents 183 workers at Grace Villa long-term care home, said conditions in the home were being described as a war zone" because of the shortage of staff.
In an interview, Sharleen Stewart said that due to critically low staffing levels, workers were being forced to choose between sanitization and providing direct care for residents.
During the first wave of the pandemic in April, the Canadian military assisted at seven of the hardest-hit long-term care homes in Ontario.
The letter came a day after the union requested the province to intervene in the outbreak, where the number of cases and deaths continue to climb.
A woman from Grace Villa in her early 80s died on Dec. 10, bringing the number of deaths from the outbreak up to 11. Another resident case was also reported, bringing it to 77. Fifty staff have also tested positive, one of whom is in hospital.
Danika Bowden, whose mother Elaine Bowden has lived at Grace Villa for more than two years and is in hospital with COVID-19, said if there had been more staff at Grace Villa, her mother's health problems would've been noticed sooner.
Clearly things weren't observed," she said, noting she'd noticed over phone calls with her mother that Elaine was having difficulty speaking, was eating less and experiencing pain before her hospitalization.
Elaine lived on same floor of the COVID-19 outbreak at the east Mountain home. Danika also said the home should've raised the alarm sooner and asked for help.
Due to privacy and confidentiality we are unable to comment on any specific resident," said an email from Mary Raithby, CEO of APANS Health Services, which runs Grace Villa. We continue to be focused on resident care and infection prevention and control enhancements in an effort to prevent further transmission of the virus."
Meanwhile, over the phone earlier Friday, Raithby said more contracts have been secured with staffing agencies to support the home.
We've had existing contracts with our agency partners since the beginning of the pandemic. They have increased the number that they're sending in and we have some new contracts," she said, though she did not provide numbers for how many more staff would be coming in, or how many should be in the home at a given time.
In an email statement from Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), spokesperson Veronica Magee said about 20 HHS staff and leaders are on-site daily at the home to share their expertise in infection prevention and control, clinical management and front-line care."
On Nov. 28, Hamilton Public Health ordered Grace Villa to allow HHS to monitor, investigate and respond to the outbreak.
A Hamilton MPP also spoke out about the staffing shortage at the facility on Friday.
There is not near enough of them to be able to properly care for the residents of Grace Villa," said Monique Taylor, MPP for Hamilton Mountain, in a phone interview.
She said she heard from the home's management that they were scrambling" to get more staff in the midst of a widespread shortage of workers, many of whom have fallen sick, retired or switched professions in the pandemic.
In a letter to the ministry for long-term care on Dec. 11, Taylor joined calls by the union representing Grace Villa workers for the province to intervene.
While many of the PSWs, custodians, food service workers and other workers are in isolation from contracting COVID-19, the remaining staff are overwhelmed trying to care for the residents," says her letter. They tell me that the situation is not sustainable.
I am seeking provincial intervention to develop a clear, transparent plan for this home, which is experiencing staffing shortages and burnout," the letter continues. I support the call from SEIU for management orders to have a local hospital take over operations."
Maria Iqbal's reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows her to report on stories focused on aging issues. Reach her via email: miqbal@thespec.com.