Hamilton LTC says some workers quit after vaccines became mandatory
Some Hamilton long-term-care workers resigned after COVID vaccinations became mandatory, but area facilities are set to receive more than $13 million by spring to hire more staff.
On Wednesday, the province announced long-term care homes will receive funding by the end of March 2022 to hire enough staff to provide an average of three hours of daily care per resident.
The news came days after the Minister of Long-Term Care said all staff, students and volunteers working in long-term care must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 15. Those who don't meet the deadline will not be allowed to work inside a facility.
Westdale's Shalom Village had three workers resign after the home introduced its own mandatory vaccination policy Sept. 20, said spokesperson Laurie Pringle.
But she said the home didn't expect to have staffing challenges, noting Shalom was planning for this eventuality" and is continually recruiting staff.
About 86 per cent of Shalom staff were vaccinated as of Aug. 31, per provincial data. The facility was home to Hamilton's second-biggest COVID-19 outbreak.
At Grace Villa on the east Mountain, which had the city's worst outbreak and worst vaccination rate in LTC, only 67 per cent of staff were fully vaccinated as of Aug. 31.
Dr. Amit Arya, an assistant clinical professor of palliative care at McMaster University, called that a complete failure." He said Ontario mandating vaccines was a step in the right direction" but could lead to workers leaving long-term care for other health care jobs.
The message should be consistent across the entire health-care system," he said.
The CEO of Grace Villa's operator declined to comment when asked if mandating vaccination could affect the home's staffing. Previously, Mary Raithby of APANS Health Services, said the home's low vaccination rate was in part due to the number of staff on leaves of absence and who are not working in the home, and whose vaccination status was included in the report.
Heritage Green Nursing Home and St. Joseph's Villa, which had the second- and third-lowest staff vaccination rates respectively, didn't respond to requests for comment on the policy's impact on staffing. However, the president of St. Joe's Villa said that the vaccine policy was great news."
This will support those homes that felt unable to move ahead with a mandatory vaccination policy," said John Woods in an email after Friday's announcement.
However, workers' unions say otherwise. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said in an email that the union encourages vaccination, though it disagrees with the policy. CUPE represents about 3,000 LTC workers in Hamilton and Niagara, including at St. Joseph's Villa and the city-run Macassa and Wentworth lodges.
We have an unprecedented staffing crisis in long-term care," said a statement attributed to Candace Rennick, CUPE Ontario's secretary-treasurer. She noted there are religious or medical exemptions and legitimate hesitancy issues," which the union has been working to address.
We can't give up on all these workers. They showed up every day during this pandemic and worked their hearts out for our seniors," the email added. Discipline, termination or harassment are not appropriate, and we cannot afford to lose more people at the bedside."
All 27 homes in the city are getting anywhere from $135,000 to almost $1.4 million to hire more staff. St. Joe's Villa is set to get $1.39 million. Grace Villa has been allocated $650,000. Shalom will get $440,000.
A ministry spokesperson said the funding was based on the number of beds per home.
In a statement, Shalom's CEO said he was delighted" by the news.
We look forward to reviewing the details of this announcement, and hope to see the province continue to prioritize health care for seniors," said Ken Callaghan.
Maria Iqbal is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator covering aging. Reach her via email: miqbal@thespec.com.