How COVID-19 spreads inside LTC home
How COVID-19 spreads inside LTC home
Long-time worker in a long-term care speaks
By Irish Mae Silvestre
The Philippine Reporter
For the most part, Ontario resident Maria* (last name withheld for privacy reasons) likes her job. For almost twenty years, she’s helped care for seniors at the same long-term care facility. When the pandemic started, the facility reacted swiftly by barring visitors from entering – a decision that ensured that their facility survived the first wave virtually unscathed.
“Not even one staff member tested positive for the virus,” she said, adding that workers were prevented from working at multiple facilities to help check the spread. “During the first wave, they didn’t allow visitors – they really [adhered to the] lockdowns. All long-term care facilities, especially ours, said no visitors and no contractors.”
But that soon changed in the summer when COVID-19 cases started to drop, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that families can visit their loved ones in long-term care facilities.
Although family members were required to get tested, according to Maria, it was only the beginning of the ensuing nightmare.
“That’s the thing, you can’t know if they’re negative or positive,” said Maria. “They could have negative results two days ago but what if they’re positive today?”
It didn’t take long until a visitor who tested positive infected staff members and residents alike.“My co-workers cried when they heard that our residents had COVID-19,” she recalled.
As more employees tested positive, the facility soon struggled with staffing issues. Rather than hiring staff from agencies, the facility offered employees double shifts for those interested.
And because of the low salaries, she said, “of course, they will work overtime.”
“They’ll ask staff members who are already working [to work overtime], and they don’t even think about how they might be tired and should probably go home because their immune system is low,” said Maria. “I never even heard them say that.”
Maria pointed out that rather than quarantining workers caring for COVID-positive residents on one floor, poor management decisions and rotating staff members from different floors further caused the disease to spread. And slip-ups happen, as tired and overworked employees occasionally forget to change gloves, gowns or masks.
Even with extra help from the agency, Maria said it’s not the perfect solution. “They don’t know the residents, so why would they care, right?” she said. “They don’t care if the residents won’t drink water when, of course, you have to wake them up and encourage them to drink.”
She added that the lack of attentive care and low-quality meals made residents even more vulnerable to the disease. Several of their residents have already succumbed to COVID-19.
“I really blame the government for [what happened] because they let people come in,” she said.
“If they did what they had done during the first wave, they would have been able to control [the situation]. And maybe their loved ones would still be alive.”
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