Shortage of care workers left gap at retirement home, daughter says
Valley Stream site a vaccine priority following 10 deaths in outbreak
The daughter of a woman who died Jan. 12 in an Ottawa retirement home says visiting personal support care was pulled from the home only days before her mother's death.
Jean Hayduk tested positive for COVID 19 on Jan. 8, just days after her 90th birthday.
She was a resident in the Revera Valley Stream Retirement Home in Nepean.
Valley Stream has become the epicentre of a major outbreak. Ottawa Public Health has reported seven resident deaths at the retirement residence, along with 47 cases among residents and 25 staff cases.
But an update from Valley Stream on Wednesday reported 10 deaths and 51 active cases among residents, 22 among staff and six among agency staff, said Hayduk's daughter, Barb.
There have been 16 resolved cases among residents, 13 among staff and three among agency staff.
Eight days into the outbreak, on Jan. 10, a letter to families from Valley Stream said the agency contracted by the Local Health Integration Network and assigned to the retirement home did not have PSWs to support the expected care and Valley Stream staff were trying to pick up the additional responsibilities.
“At this time, we are trying our best; however, schedules and routines might be off,” the letter said.
Jean Hayduk, who had lived in the home for about three years, was one of many residents there eligible for home care, with the goal of keeping her out of longterm care, Barb said.
The visiting support worker would help her mother get up in the morning and assist with a shower twice a week. The rest of the time, her mother was helped by staff and visiting family members.
“We thought there were arrangements. How were we supposed to turn around on a dime?
“This is a huge gap in health care for seniors,” Barb said. “If it's unreliable or tentative, you might as well not have it at all.”
Staff at the retirement home have been working overtime to fill in the gaps, Barb Hayduk said.
“Valley Stream did a phenomenal job of taking care of my mom.
“My sister and I would go in all the time.
“They treated her with such kindness and compassion,” said Hayduk, who, as an essential visitor, was permitted to continue to visit and was able to help care for her mother.
Ottawa Public Health has recognized that vaccinating the residents at Valley Stream is a priority. Although all eligible long-term care residents had their first doses of vaccine by last Friday, Valley Stream is so far the only retirement home in the city recognized as a vaccine priority.
Jean Hayduk, who had tested negative on Jan. 4, lost her appetite on Jan 6. She tested positive on Jan. 8.
Barb said her mother had an advance directive that she did not want heroic measures taken if she became seriously ill, and it was decided that she would receive palliative care in her own unit at Valley Stream.
Palliative-care paramedics have since joined the effort, she said.
“I understand the incredible courage of the people who work there. I can't speak highly enough of what they are doing.”
Barb believes the number of people in hospital with COVID — 42 in Ottawa, with eight in intensive care, according to the last count — shows a false picture of the damage COVID-19 has perpetrated.
“Many people like my mom are dying in the homes.
“That is the true picture of the gravity of what's going on in the community,” she said.