Staffing levels at Flin Flon’s long-term care homes have some family members worried about the well-being of their elderly loved ones.
The Reminder interviewed eight concerned family members and friends of residents of the Personal Care Home (PCH) and Northern Lights Manor (NLM).
They described overstretched staff struggling to keep up, providing accounts of delayed baths, missed walks, inadequate assistance for residents who need help eating, and gaps in supervision.
“My biggest concern is the safety aspect, because something is going to happen,” said Lorna Heuchert, whose mother resides at the PCH.
“I think they just don’t have enough staff to call on to fill their shifts.
“If you don’t have enough people to do things that require at least two people, or it takes all your staff to attend to one person, it just leaves you prone to taking shortcuts.”
Wanda Cluff, whose wheelchair-bound husband suffers from dementia, was so concerned about his quality of care at the PCH that she removed him from the facility.
She said her husband lost 58 pounds in his first eight months at the PCH at least in part because of the amount of food he was consuming.
“I didn’t see people actually sitting and feeding him a lot,” Cluff said. “I know that there are a lot of people who do need help with eating and [her husband] takes a long, long time to eat.
“They just don’t have that time available, so I think they would give him a mouthful on the way by and give him another mouthful, but I don’t think they have someone who can sit with him and make sure that he was eating enough to get through.”
Although her husband can no longer care for himself, Cluff had him brought home in January. She now cares for him with the help of home care workers.
Two other people with loved ones at the PCH spoke to The Reminder on the condition their names not be published.
One of them said that earlier this year, her mother went three weeks without being bathed even though she is supposed to get one bath a week. The person called this a serious health issue and an example of neglect.
The other person said her loved one is supposed to go for assisted walks three times a day but is lucky to get three walks a week.
Manor concerns
Concerns also exist at the NLM, where Brenda Gilmore’s 93-year-old mother lives.
“You put them in because you want them to be safe…and I guess a lot of times we question that right now,” she said.
Gilmore said she usually sees fewer health care workers at the NLM today compared to when her mother moved in three and a half years ago.
She said the employees’ workload is also heavier today because more clients require dedicated care, including those who are wheelchair-bound or need help eating.
Gilmore said she and her siblings regularly attend the NLM to ensure their mother gets at least two good meals a day. The family has also hired someone to feed their mother at certain times.
“I’m not saying that she wouldn’t be fed [otherwise], but I don’t know how much she would be fed when they’re short [staffed] like that, because of the heavy workload,” Gilmore said.
“It takes about an hour to feed her because she eats slowly and the food has to be cut up.”
In Gilmore’s view, there is a lack of adequate supervision of NLM residents in the evening when other residents are being bathed or put to bed.
She worries unattended residents could put themselves in unsafe situations or risk choking on snacks provided in the dining area.
Dave Babcock, who visits a friend at the NLM, said he also worries about residents going “unsupervised a lot of the time” in the lounge area.
He said he has intervened in situations where residents got into fights or where one resident offered solid food to tenants whose food must be cut up.
Babcock said he also sees NLM tenants sleeping in their wheelchairs, which worries him.
“Maybe they should be asked if they would like to go lay down in their bed,” he said. “You can get sores just from sitting in a wheelchair all day, right? …Or they may have a need of some kind, whether to go to the bathroom or maybe they’re thirsty or there’s something, and there’s nobody there to ask for help.
“It’s bordering on neglect. [Residents] are being neglected because there isn’t enough staff, I guess, to supervise them. [Staff] are busy bathing other residents or attending to residents that are maybe in their room and don’t like to go out to the lounge, but maybe [staff] have got to be attending to them, their needs.”
Lorene Bonnett, whose uncle lives at the NLM, agrees the facility seems “exceedingly short-staffed and therefore can’t meet the needs that are there.”
She said workers have trouble meeting scheduled commitments, such as bath times. She said her uncle has had baths delayed a couple of times, which is difficult on him because of his anxiety.
On other occasions, Bonnett said staff have been unable to change her uncle’s overnight colostomy bag on time, making him late for breakfast by as much as an hour.
She said she has seen other residents “struggling to eat that really should be having assistance” but who do not receive help. She spoke of one resident in particular who would be able to finish her meals while they are still warm if she had help.
Another person with a loved one at the NLM called the facility “very short-staffed” and expressed concerns about the level of supervision in the activity room.
Most of the sources interviewed for this article spoke highly of the staff at the care homes, but all felt there are not enough workers to go around.
Some of the sources who have had loved ones in care for extended periods of time said the level of care was good or at least better until about 18 months ago.
Up to standard: gov’t
A scheduled government review of the PCH and NLM in April found “no concerns for the quality of care or safety of any [of] the residents,” said provincial spokeswoman Amy McGuinness.
McGuinness said the Northern Health Region (NHR) manages day-to-day operations of the facilities according to provincial standards for care and resident safety.
Together, the two care homes have a capacity of 66 residents – 36 at the NLM and 30 at the PCH. Neither facility is fully staffed, with seven vacancies for part-time positions between them, according to the NHR. The vacancies equal nearly three full-time positions.
In addition, the NHR has implemented a cost-saving measure whereby some workers who call in sick are not replaced. Some family members who spoke to The Reminder said this policy has exacerbated the problems they see.
Twyla Storey, communications coordinator for the NHR, said the care homes have a contingency plan for reduced staffing situations that lays out which tasks are a priority and which ones can be postponed.
“An example of non-essential tasks are stocking of rooms, sorting of linens and making beds,” she said. “Residents’ personal grooming and feeding are essential duties, and regardless of staffing levels these tasks would be completed.”
Storey said the NHR also utilizes a staffing agency to ensure clients’ needs are met and vacancies are effectively managed in the short term.
“This is a much more optimal situation than having the shifts go unfilled,” she said.
Referencing the policy of not replacing the first sick call of the day, Storey said “every situation is looked at individually and a process exists to mitigate impacts on patient care.”
She said all PCH and NLM clients have a care plan that is reviewed by all staff who attend to their needs, ensuring “they all are familiar with the clients and the highest quality of care is provided.”
There is also a daily report time with staff at which time concerns can be raised by staff regarding clients they will be attending to that day,
Storey said.
Storey addressed other specific concerns.
In terms of baths being missed, she said the PCH bathtub was broken for a week. She said alternate arrangements are made to provide this service and that a system is in place to track the bathing of all clients.
Regarding concerns over supervision at the NLM, Storey said 14 people work on the main floor of the facility during dayshift, including six health-care aides and three nurses.
A nurse manager and best practice educator are also present at times, as they split their duties between the NLM and PCH, she said.
Storey responded to the perception that bathing times impact the supervision of residents by noting only two clients would ever be bathed at the same time.
“[Health care aides] bath the clients and put them to bed. The nurses are still on the floor during this time,” she said. “During meal times, the nurses pass the pills in the dining room. One [health care aide] is assigned dining room duty.”
Added Storey: “We are comfortable with the level of supervision provided and believe it meets the needs of those we serve.”
Staffing
In terms of staffing, Storey said the NHR has undertaken internal and external recruitment efforts to fill vacancies at the care homes, including partnering with UCN and other agencies to deliver a health care aide program.
She said the NHR is dedicated to meeting the needs of clients and working with their families.
“Concerns that are raised from families are taken very seriously and looked at individually through our patient experience coordinator and the manager of the facility,” Storey said. “When concerns are brought to our attention, we work very hard to try to resolve the issues.”
Nevertheless, Bonnett, whose uncle lives at the NLM, feels disheartened by the situation.
“To me, these people are the ones that have built our society, our community here,” she said. “They deserve better than what I see them getting.”
