No plans to call in soldiers to Forest Heights

Nursing homes with ‘the most acute staffing challenges’ top the military’s priority list

KITCHENER — Regional health authorities aren’t counting on any help from the Canadian military, even though the COVID-19 outbreak at Forest Heights long-term-care appears to be one of the worst in the province.

More than half the residents at the Kitchener longterm care home have tested positive for the virus, as well as 53 people who work there.

Thirty-two residents at the home have died from the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Deaths at that one home account for 53 per cent of all COVID deaths in Waterloo Region.

But Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, Waterloo Region’s acting medical officer of health, said Monday that the region can’t count on getting help from the military, so is planning to provide Forest Heights with the help it needs through local health bodies within the region.

The province and the army together decide where the army medical staff should go, Wang said. “We’re not relying on that . ... We’re continuing to focus on providing the resources that we need to Forest Heights within the

Health System Response Team,” the local team providing help in the outbreak.

The province announced late last week that five hardhit senior homes in the Toronto area would be getting help from medical personnel from the Canadian military.

But despite the high number of cases and deaths at Forest Heights, the military won’t be helping out there, at least for now.

The outbreak at Forest Heights is by far the most serious of the 18 outbreaks in seniors’ homes in the region. It has had 133 infected residents, as well as 53 infected staff — a total of 186 cases. One in four of the cases in the region have been either a resident or an employee at Forest Heights.

“The impact of this pandemic has been devastating for the residents, their families, our staff and the community and our hearts go out to the families and friends of the people we have lost,” a statement reads from Revera, the company that owns and runs Forest Heights.

Homes with the most severe staffing problems were given first priority for the military help, said Gloria Yip, a spokesperson at the Ministry of LongTerm Care. Some of those homes had fewer deaths or cases than Forest Heights, but are having “the most acute staffing challenges.”

Hawthorne Place in Toronto and Grace Manor in Brampton are among the homes getting military help, even though they have each had about 50 cases of COVID-19 — roughly one third the number of cases seen at Forest Heights.

It’s possible Canadian Forces support could be redeployed elsewhere, as conditions change, Yip said. Army personnel include medics, nurses and others who can help with duties from infection control to cleaning and food preparation.

Help has already been dispatched to Forest Heights from within the region.

A dozen personal support workers have been reassigned from home and community care to Forest Heights to provide relief to front-line caregivers who have been working long hours throughout the outbreak. Revera has also hired 20 extra staff to bolster a variety of roles in the home, the company said.

As well, 23 residents have been temporarily moved to local hospitals, to make it easier for the home to isolate infected residents, and to relieve some pressure on the staff at the nursing home. “We look forward to returning these people to the home at the appropriate time,” Revera said.

Forest Heights is an older nursing home with many fourbed rooms. Moving some residents out of the home makes it easier to convert more rooms to just two-person rooms, which reduces the chance of infection, Wang said.

A regional team is consulting daily with senior managers at Forest Heights to ensure the home has adequate staff, since several employees are in isolation or off sick.

“We are very grateful to Region of Waterloo Public Health and the Waterloo-Wellington Health System Response Team for working with us to find the best way to serve our Forest Heights residents and staff,” Revera’s statement read. Revera owns or manages more than 400 seniors residences across Canada.