Add staff to solve long-term-care woes
Re Premier calls allegations ‘upsetting,’ May 4 Ontario may have increased funding for inspections of long-term-care homes, but the premier clearly has not read any of the inspectors’ reports. If she had, she would not be surprised by the recent allegations.
Inspections, including those of homes with the best reputations, routinely find that care plans are not followed, including those for toileting and changing diapers.
Medications are not given as ordered. Failure to prevent access to dangerous areas, where residents might be burned, or to unattended medicine carts, seems to be routine.
How can one person possibly take care of the eight to 15 residents routinely assigned to them?
Think of the day shift from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Imagine how long it takes to get one person who is totally dependent on your care out of bed, taking them to the washroom or changing their diaper, washing them (forget a daily shower, even if they are incontinent), feeding them breakfast at a speed where they do not choke (up to an hour for this alone). Repeat for lunch and snack.
Assume they are co-operative, because if they resist care, it will take far longer. Now multiply by eight or 15.
Is it any wonder residents are neglected? Or that caregivers who have a choice choose to work elsewhere?
Yet Kathleen Wynne resisted calls to regulate the number of residents per caregiver when designing recent legislative changes. She resisted calls to ensure caregivers work full time so they can get the requisite training and know their residents and their care requirements. In turn, the residents will know them, and therefore be more likely to co-operate.
Extendicare, Revera and Leisureworld, if you really care about your residents as much as your spokespeople claim, you can show it by implementing these changes. Marcia Zalev, Toronto