THUNDER BAY - Ontario has not seen the surge of COVID-19 cases in hospitals it was expecting at this time in April and it is now turning the focus of its fight against the pandemic to the crisis unfolding in long-term care homes.
“We have some bush fires, but we have an inferno in long-term care right now,” said Premier Doug Ford during his daily media briefing on Tuesday.
There are 626 long-term care homes in the province and 114 are experiencing outbreaks of COVID-19. The novel Coronavirus is particularly harmful to the elderly and of Canada’s 924 deaths, more than half are linked to long-term care facilities.
“It preys on our seniors and our most vulnerable,” Ford said. “The reality is that despite our best efforts, we are dealing with a wild fire in our long-term care.”
In an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care, the Ontario government is instituting a new order restricting workers in long-term care homes to work in only a single facility.
“We know that the order is going to be necessary to make sure that there aren’t any workers that are inadvertently carrying the virus from one location to another,” said Minister of Health Christine Elliott. “This is a way to limit the expansion of the virus in our long term care home.”
“Issuing this order today is only possible because we now have the staffing resources in place,” Ford added.
Ford added the government is directing funding for additional staff and increasing the hours of part time staff, expanding testing to long-term care homes, and making more personal protective equipment available.
“We are responding for most requests for more PPE within 24 hours,” Ford said. “This is just the beginning. As premier I will do whatever it takes and spare no expense when it comes to protecting our seniors and those most vulnerable.”
The healthcare worker portal has also seen the majority of employers looking for volunteers in the healthcare profession being long-term care facilities and retired nurses, students, and healthcare professionals trained in other countries are being matched with facilities.
There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in any long-term care facilities in the city of Thunder Bay and employers are taking the necessary steps to protect all residents, patients, and staff.
“We put a lot of protective measures in place in both of our long-term care homes very early on in the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Tracy Buckler, President and CEO of St. Joseph’s Care Group. “We began screening right away. Shortly there after we stopped volunteers, we stopped visitors, we stopped any kind of traffic coming into our homes.”
Buckler added that all staff are screened before coming into work, including their temperature being taken and an online self-assessment tool for symptoms. All staff are also required to wear a surgical mask from the start of their shift to the end.
“We’ve done some testing with our staff,” Buckler said. “We haven’t had any staffing problems. Some of our programs across the corporation and multiple sites have redeployed staff to the areas of greatest need.”
“We have sufficient personal protective equipment at this point in time,” Buckler added. “There are processes for escalating those requests. We have sufficient supplies and we keep track of that very closely.”
Jonathan Riabov, executive director with Southbridge Pinewood, said there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in any of its three long-term care homes. However, the Thunder Bay District Health Unit said Southbridge Pinewood is experiencing an outbreak of Human Metapneumovirus and Seasonal Coronavirus, which is non-COVID-19.
“We have taken immediate steps to reduce the chance of transmission and keep our residents and staff safe and healthy,” Riabov said. “We are working closely with the Thunder Bay District Health Unit and the Ministry of Long-Term Care and are following their recommendations.”
Staff are also screened before coming into work, are not permitted to come into work if showing symptoms, and are provided with all necessary PPE.
“We currently have an adequate supply of personal protective equipment to supply our three homes in Thunder Bay in the near term,” Riabov said. “We are continuously looking for ways to enhance the supply to ensure longer term conditions remain stable including the potential for a COVID-19 outbreak.”