-- roughly 84 per cent -- out of the more than 8,400 deaths related to the coronavirus in Canada have been attributed to nursing homes.
A number of the measures taken at Shepherd Village were implemented at other homes as well. “But what it came down to -- as we reflect on what we did -- was timing,” she said. Yee Hong is a non-profit group that operates four long-term care homes across the Greater Toronto Area. The organization is self-described as “culturally appropriate” –they offer menus, spiritual, religious, cultural support and celebrations, and have linguistically trained staff that primarily serve Chinese and other Asian communities. Some 805 seniors call Yee Hong home, while some 400 others live in independent housing.
Vacations at Yee Hong were put on hold to mitigate worries about staffing shortages and employees were wearing masks and face shields well before they were mandated. They were also trained on proper usage. Social gatherings, including celebrating the Lunar New Year, which fell on January 25 this year, were cancelled at Yee Hong.
Shepherd Village and Yee Hong were completely closed within two days of the World Health Organization formally declaring a pandemic, with only staff and essential visitors allowed.By the beginning of March, long-term care and retirement home residents at Shepherd Village had to stay on site, tray service began, and staff were not allowed to move from floor to floor or leave the premises for lunch.
The two off-site cases at Shepherd Village put the community on high alert, Beckles said. “Hundreds of hours” of sanitizing were conducted. The whereabouts of the infected staff over the previous 14 days were also investigated: the shifts they worked, the residents they interacted with, and who also worked those shifts. The entire floor of residents and everyone who worked with them were immediately tested. All other staff and residents have since been tested as well.
With assistance from the Ontario Long-Term Care Association, Beckles was hiring 30 people at a time, connecting with colleges to bring in nursing and personal support worker students, getting retired nurses to come back and recertify, and hiring quickly outside the bargaining unit. They were able to return to their original staffing level and beyond, with managers going back to the frontline as new hires underwent training.
Participants react during a vigil for COVID-19 victims at the Orchard Villa long-term care home in Pickering, Ont. on Monday, June 15, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank GunnOver the last few months, Norma Sullivan’s daughter, Mucci, has witnessed the difference in care these kinds of early measures have meant for her mother at Chartwell Waterford,compared to the horror stories she was hearing elsewhere.
“When this whole scenario came up - it's difficult to watch their morale because they're just kind of all painted with the same brush as ... these long-term care facilities that are having major issues,” she said.For Sullivan’s birthday last month, Mucci asked staff to bring her to a window so her family could sing happy birthday from outside. Gifts had to be delivered the day before, to allow them to sit for a period of time, out of an abundance of caution.
While no COVID-19-related deaths were recorded at the majority of Chartwell’s long-term care facilities according to provincial government figures, a number of them did have outbreaks -- defined as one or more positive cases. Data showed that five facilities also suffered a number of deaths, which Chartwell says were concentrated in older buildings.
“COVID unfortunately raises a lot of challenges that long-term care homes have had already anyway,” said Jones, adding that the industry should be sharing best practices with one another and that proper training is essential.
Gave them water 👈 fraud losers
300 or 400 residents in a LTC centre is too big.
mini_bubbly Lock down and test employees
It wasnt run by Government like the others and the elderly didnt sign euthanasia agreements that healthcare staff could use to create Covid deaths for the con.
Provided the healthcare that was promised when you signed up and gave them all of your money. Many others were better at the money thing, healthcare not so much.
Just a guess, THEY FOLLOWED THE RULES
In my dad’s place, they locked down early and banned employees from working at any other location.
It’s more like what didn’t they do wrong. The better part of 10,000 seniors died in NYC because Andrew Cuomo, the Governor, forced seniors with Covid to go back to the homes. Our media didn’t report any of it btw because he is a democrat.
Vitamin D? It's not that complicated, but nobody in government or the media is talking about it. People with high levels of vitamin D tend to test negative for COVID19
Why do they wear camo and boots into nursing homes?..is it really necessary?.😒
they weren't run by greedy owners. real estate companies. 9% dividends. look it up. maybe report facts. can't afford benefits for lowest paid workers. so no full time jobs.
Get good tenants?
Military discipline. Instead of being lazy and procrastinating, they actually worked and provided a clean environment
Early lockdown.
We knew that....but media only wanted to tell one side as is now the case in all news reports....just lazy journalism.
:( it should've happen
No one infected at all in long term care in Kingston, maybe other cities should ask them what they did
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