Calls grow for faster rollout of vaccine at group homes

Kinsmen Manor residents deserve top priority, say concerned relatives

Richard Helm thinks the Saskatchewan government needs to prioritize the vaccination of people with intellectual disabilities who live in group homes.

For 50 years, Helm's brother John has lived at Kinsmen Manor, run by Elmwood Residences Inc., where a COVID-19 outbreak was declared on Jan. 15.

Helm said 19 of the 32 residents have tested positive, according to information he has received from Elmwood. The average age of residents at Kinsmen Manor is 65, Helm added.

Like many people in Kinsmen Manor and other group homes, John has physical ailments as well, like epilepsy, and takes several medications.

“There's a myriad of health issues that go along with the intellectual disabilities that these people have there,” Helm said in an interview this week from Edmonton, where he lives.

“They're a population of people that should not be overlooked or neglected, and that seems to be the case from what I understand.”

Only about half of the people living at Kinsmen Manor have family to advocate for them, he said. About half are also in wheelchairs.

The combination of the physical ailments and the congregate living setting makes group home residents among the most vulnerable, Helm noted.

He thinks the phasing of vaccinations makes sense, but he believes people in group homes should have been in the first phase of Saskatchewan's vaccination rollout.

Helm wrote to Premier Scott Moe, Health Minister Paul Merriman, Social Services Minister Lori Carr and Saskatchewan Heath Authority CEO Scott Livingstone this week to urge that group homes be included in Phase 1. In an email, Rachel Steinke, Elmwood's executive director, echoed the need to prioritize people with disabilities at the level of those in long-term care homes. Vaccination of people who live and work in long-term care homes is included in Phase 1.

“This (outbreak) is a sombre reminder of the importance of the Covid-19 vaccination in the disability sector,” Steinke said.

She confirmed that a “significant number” are affected by the outbreak, which began when four staff tested positive between Jan. 10 and 12. All staff and residents were then tested on Jan. 15.

An update posted on the Elmwood Facebook page on Wednesday revealed that most residents who have tested positive are experiencing mild symptoms, although two have “significant symptoms.”

Helm said his brother did not test positive during the first round of testing, although a second round was scheduled for Thursday.

The facility has applied to the province for a rapid testing device that could produce results in 15 minutes.

Group homes appear to be under consideration for priority in the second phase of the vaccine rollout in Saskatchewan, according to a Saskatchewan Health Authority document that has been removed from the SHA website. A federal committee recommends prioritizing congregate living settings in the second phase of inoculations, partially because of increased transmission risk.

Ministry of Health spokeswoman Jennifer Graham said vaccinations will continue with the identified priority groups.

“We know there is a desire from many individuals and groups to receive the vaccine,” Graham wrote in an email on Thursday.

The Saskatchewan Association of Rehabilitation Centres wrote a letter to Moe, Merriman, Carr and Livingstone on Dec. 1 to urge that disability sector workers and residents receive vaccine priority.