THUNDER BAY — Anita Berglund said she hasn’t been able to comfortably brush her teeth in weeks, the water from her faucet won't warm up.
Berglund, a resident at Hogarth Riverview Manor, said hot water has not been reliable on her floor for approximately one month.
“It's seven stories and the water has been intermittent, cold water and the hot water just seemed to die.
“The main floor apparently is continuously having hot water, but it was going off and on. (We’re) trying to figure out what to do for this because people require water for bathing and hygiene,” she said.
People are entitled to hygiene, Berglund said.
“Big packages of baby wipes are given out, and I was told that that was supposed to be the solution,” she said.
Andrea Docherty, vice president of clinical and community health for St. Joseph's Care Group, confirmed that there have been intermittent hot water issues in the tower section of Hogarth Riverview Manor.
However, Docherty said there has been no interruption in terms of baths or the plan of care for residents.
She did say some residents have been transported to other floors to bathe.
“We have implemented comfort measures so that someone who is washing their hands and is experiencing cold water in those first few minutes that they turn on the tap, we’ve implemented some warm wipe comfort measures, but there's been no interruption in the care,” she said.
Berglund disputes this, and said some residents have missed baths.
She is also unhappy with communication on the issue.
“I haven't heard anything. There are just no real answers. Hauling everyone downstairs just isn't possible when you have a population of 600 or so people.
“I don't know how that's supposed to work. I'm not very hopeful at this point. I'm a little cynical at this point.”
Docherty said there is a team of plumbers and engineers along with building service staff who are going to each floor throughout the towers, trying to isolate and identify the issue.
“That's the seven-story tower section and we've been working really hard to isolate that issue and to ensure that no care is interrupted for our residents,” she said.
“It is an intermittent issue. That's why it's taking us so long to resolve the issue. However, we're very confident that a solution is coming to light.
“They're finishing their investigations today (Friday) and we'll be working on implementing the solution,” she said.
Docherty said they think the issue is some mixing valves that mix hot and cold water.
“You can imagine, in a building that size, there's a large number of such valves. They're going very diligently floor to floor to ensure that we're able to isolate and replace those faulty valves.
“It's really important for us to ensure that continuity of care for our residents. To make sure that we are able to accommodate baths on time and at a comfortable water temperature, we have utilized bathing spaces in other spaces,” she said.
Docherty said it's really important to be able to communicate with residents and family members.
“We have a very robust communication system that includes call outs to families. As new information is available, information is posted on all of our units and we have our family council meeting once a week,” she said.
