The word “concern” appeared 11 times in last week’s Reminder article on the state of long-term care in Flin Flon.
And with good reason.
Concern was the dominant sentiment expressed by eight interview subjects, all of them family members and friends of residents who live at the Personal Care Home (PCH) or Northern Lights Manor (NLM).
They shared accounts of delayed baths, missed walks and of residents receiving inadequate help eating and improper supervision.
In one case, a family removed their loved one from the PCH so he could be cared for at home; in another, a family hired a private individual to feed their mother at the NLM when they can’t be there.
It is important to shine a light on this situation in order to acknowledge the uneasy truth: the system is in some ways failing our most vulnerable citizens.
Based on observations shared with The Reminder, the PCH and NLM need more health care aides, both on a daily basis
and to call on when aides phone in sick.
Even at full staff, there do not seem to be enough aides to care for clients who in some cases lack even the most basic means of self-care or take perhaps an hour to finish a meal.
Much of the solution lies in the Northern Health Region (NHR) and the provincial government making the recruitment of health care aides more of a priority.
Health care aides in Flin Flon earn in the $18- to $21-an-hour range, according to job postings. For a position that requires college training and which can be physically and emotionally draining, that is not a lot of money.
In addition to recruitment challenges, the NHR has adopted a policy of no longer replacing all workers who call in sick for the day. For some people with loved ones in the PCH and NLM, this measure has exacerbated an already-difficult situation.
The NHR would argue it has no choice in the matter given its provincial mandate to reduce spending by $6 million out of a $230-million-plus budget.
But is running short-staffed health care facilities really the best – or only – way to accomplish this objective?
In its dying days, the previous NDP government announced it would invest in a new primary care clinic in The Pas. The current PC government later cancelled the project.
Instead of debating the merits of constructing more nice-to-have buildings such as this clinic, our leaders should ensure the basics of the health care system are functioning at a high level.
This does not appear to be happening at the PCH and NLM. It’s not the fault of any one person or entity, but of a system that has failed to keep up with demand and ensure an adequate supply of health care aides.
The need for health care and home care aides in Flin Flon is already high, and will only grow as the population ages.
To avert an eventual catastrophe, the NHR and province need to find the dollars now to pay aides a more attractive wage. Transform health care aide into not just a career option, but a career aspiration.
Only then can we begin to rest easy about the care afforded to our most vulnerable citizens.
