The rise of COVID-19 threatens staff in local homes in the long term

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Local long-term care homes are mobilizing to avoid another crisis as the latest fast-moving variant of COVID-19 threatens to cause a critical staff shortage among those who care for the most vulnerable.

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“It’s knocking on all of our doors,” said John Scotland, CEO of Steeves and Rozema Group, owner of Heron Terrace. “All of our houses have contingency plans for personnel. We started offering more hours, overtime, aligning the agency (staffing), and planning for the worst.

“We are managing and keeping our fingers crossed that things don’t get worse. But we are preparing for the worst. The expectation is that things will continue to get worse, particularly for the next two weeks as we overcome this wave. We have to be prepared for that ”.

Ontario’s long-term care minister, Rod Phillips, said this week that outbreaks have been reported in 186 homes across Ontario, with facilities facing a 20 to 30 percent staff shortage in the worst-hit areas.

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It is the most recent crisis for a sector that faced a crisis at the beginning of the pandemic when the virus swept through public care settings, causing a disproportionately high number of infections and deaths.

Phillips did not say whether employee absences were causing the biggest problems.

Unifor Local 2458 President Tullio DiPonti, which has members working in 21 long-term care homes and 12 nursing homes, said local facilities face staffing problems. But so far, he said they haven’t reached that peak.

“We’re not in that 20 percent, 30 percent crisis mode, but we could get there quickly,” DiPonti said. “That is our greatest fear at the moment. Obviously, whether you’re in long-term care or in the hospital, no one is immune from this. We could get to that point.

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“Our biggest fear as a union is that we have known all along that we have been doing little work. With this pandemic, especially with this new variant, it will magnify it to the point where we could be in serious trouble. “

According to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, nine local retirement and long-term care homes are currently dealing with outbreaks of COVID-19.

“The entire healthcare sector faces a great challenge with the number of people affected by the spread of the Omicron variant, either because they contracted the virus or because they were exposed in another way,” said Kristian Partington, director of communications. of Peoples of Schlegel.

The company’s two local houses “are no exception,” he said. The Village of Aspen Lake, which has 220 employees, had 10 people off work on Friday. The Village at St. Clair, with a staff of 275, lost 12 workers.

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“Fortunately, everyone is doing well and we look forward to welcoming many of these individuals as soon as their authorization date arrives,” said Partington. “While this puts pressure on the teams, our overall numbers are stable in both Villages, and we are grateful for the support each team member offers our residents during this difficult time.”

Scotland, who noted that many employee infections or exposures come from the community rather than from long-term care homes, said that 10 percent of Heron Terrace’s roughly 180 workers are out of work.

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But it can vary from day to day, he added.

“Obviously some houses are less and some houses could be temporarily more,” he said.

“I understand that there are homes in the province that are experiencing levels of 20 to 30 percent. But I don’t think that’s the average ”.

Scotland also commended the staff for remaining committed to caring for patients and residents in increasingly stressful and difficult circumstances.

“They really are amazing, they really are dedicated,” he said. “And we really appreciate the support of our families, our residents, and their support of our homes. If anything right now, if we could all be nice.

“These are difficult times for our staff, our residents and our families.”

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