‘We were forced to neglect our residents’: Grace Villa workers expose conditions inside outbreak
The union representing workers at Grace Villa long-term care and the area MPP are asking the province to take action after scathing letters from the home's workers detail warzone"-like conditions during the outbreak.
MPP Monique Taylor and SEIU Healthcare are calling on Premier Doug Ford to stop APANS Health Services, which runs the east Mountain home, from regaining control of the facility. Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) took over Grace Villa's management during the outbreak, which killed 44 of the home's 156 residents in less than two months.
The letters describe a lack of PPE access in the home, along with poor staffing leading to neglect, horrific sanitary conditions, and ultimately, death.
Residents would be falling on (the) floor or choking, and we would have to wait 30 minutes to enter the room while we waited for gowns to be delivered," read one letter.
We received nine residents laying in soiled and or soaked briefs, wearing little or no clothing or bedding on bare mattresses that were saturated with urine," said a second. Two of them (were) saturated with vomit and urine and it was obvious that many of them were suffering with fevers."
Basic hydration could have prevented some of those deaths," the letter continued. But nobody would listen."
Our residents didn't get proper nutrition or hydration," said a third. We were forced to neglect our residents."
Taylor's office anonymized the letters to protect the identity of workers, who are not authorized to speak with media and fear reprisal from management."
Management clearly failed to take COVID-19 seriously in the home, leading to the worst outbreak in Hamilton," said Taylor in a press release. There have been dozens of preventable deaths at Grace Villa, and staff are deeply concerned that the home will return to the state of disarray it was in before Hamilton Health Sciences took over.
HHS continues to hold management powers at Grace Villa until the home is returned to stability. The home's outbreak was declared over on Jan. 20.
There must be consequences for nursing home owners who fail to keep residents and staff safe," said SEIU Healthcare President Sharleen Stewart in the release. Immediate changes must be made, including the replacement of management and stricter health and safety measures, to ensure a tragedy like this never occurs at this home again."
The Spectator has reached out to APANS Health Services and HHS for comment.
More to come...
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.