Grace Villa now tied for deadliest outbreak in Hamilton as the city breaks another record for new cases
Three more people have died at Grace Villa long-term care home, making the city's largest outbreak now also tied for deadliest outbreak, as Hamilton reports another record-breaking number of new cases.
Hamilton public health reported 150 new cases and five deaths Dec. 14.
Three of the five new deaths were from the ongoing outbreak at Grace Villa. Two women from Grace Villa, both in their late 90s, died Dec. 13. A man in his early 70s from Grace Villa died Dec. 12.
Chartwell Willowgrove was the home with the deadliest outbreak until Monday. Both homes have now had 18 deaths as of Dec. 14.
Grace Villa has been in outbreak since Nov. 25, and surpassed Chartwell Willowgrove in number of cases on Dec. 9.
As of 3 p.m. on Dec. 13, Grace Villa had a cumulative 132 cases, with 77 residents and 55 staff infected. Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) is supporting Grace Villa's response to the outbreak with additional staff and training.
At the request of Grace Villa workers, SEIU Healthcare, the union representing 183 workers at the home, sent a letter Dec. 11 to the federal ministers of defence and intergovernmental affairs calling for the Canadian Armed Forces to be sent in.
Union president Sharleen Stewart said Grace Villa's staffing levels were dangerously low."
Spread of the virus means there are not enough people providing hands-on care to seniors at the facility," the letter reads. The situation has been described as a war zone' and the sanitary conditions are so horrific that psychological help was suggested for those staff working on the front line."
In an email statement, Mary Raithby, CEO of APANS Health Services, which runs Grace Villa, said the home has improved staffing levels.
Our staffing levels have been noticeably enhanced through our partnerships with HHS and our community agencies, ensuring our continued focus on resident care," said the email, noting HHS continues to help the home improve infection prevention and control.
Given the significant impact of this pandemic, support is available to any staff member if they wish," Raithby added.
In a news conference Dec. 14, Ontario's associate chief medical officer of health, Dr. Barbara Yaffe, said the province wasn't considering calling in the army.
I don't think we're looking at the army at this point, but we have to look at what's needed to be done," said Yaffe, who sits on the provincial incident management system group which discusses outbreaks at specific long-term care homes.
We're aware of that outbreak (at Grace Villa). It's always infection prevention and control and health and human resources that are the biggest issues in these situations so those are the ones we're always working to address," she said.
An email from the federal ministry of public safety and emergency preparedness said local requests for help managing a COVID-19 outbreak should be placed to the province. The province can then ask the federal government for help.
When a request for assistance is received from a province or territory, it is assessed through the Government Operations Centre, which co-ordinates emergency response for the Government of Canada," said the email from Mary-Liz Power, spokesperson for Bill Blair, federal minister for public safety.
Following this evaluation, which determines which resources may be appropriate to send to the situation, aid may be dispatched as required."
As for the union's previous request for the province to order that HHS take over operational management of Grace Villa, spokesperson for the ministry of long-term care, Krystle Caputo, said such orders are only used when a home is not compliant or open to working with the hospital.
In this case, the home and the hospital have been working very well together," she said, noting in an email that the ministry has worked with Hamilton public health, HHS and the LHIN since the outbreak began.
Chartwell Willowgrove has been in outbreak since Oct. 22. As of 3 p.m. on Dec. 13, there were 95 cumulative cases, with 60 resident cases, 33 staff cases and two other cases listed as visitor/other case."
There are currently 16 institutional outbreaks in Hamilton. That includes an ongoing outbreak at Juravinski Hospital with 52 cases. St. Joseph's Villa has 49 cases.
The outbreak at Shalom Village grew sharply over the weekend to 48 cases. There were only seven cases reported as of Dec. 11.
St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton is supporting Shalom Village's response to the outbreak, said Dr. Larry Levin, interim CEO of the nursing home, on the phone Dec. 14. He said the help came after Shalom Village asked public health for support when the outbreak was declared Dec. 9.
Before the outbreak, Levin told The Spectator that Shalom Village was on the brink of a staffing shortage.
He said on Dec. 14 that 29 staff have tested positive with six to eight" more isolating while awaiting test results. Public health only lists nine reported staff cases as of Dec. 13.
We have certainly a reduced staff operating at Shalom, but we have the support of (St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton) to provide some assistance and together with other agencies that they work with, we will have the necessary manpower to get through this until our own staff can finish their isolation and come back to work," he said.
Levin said while the home is not currently receiving the support of additional staff for resident care, should we need it, I know that we can call on them to provide it."
At the moment, although our staffing levels are lighter than we would like, we are able to manage keeping all patient care at a suitable level."
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.