PSW at a retirement home
One of a series of stories looking at the new normal for our neighbours who are considered essential
KITCHENER — Julia Smit sat next to a woman dying of COVID-19, holding her hands and speaking to her.
“There’s always hope (that) maybe they’ll pull through this,” said the personal support worker employed at Highview Residences in Kitchener.
Highview is a private specialized care facility for people with dementia. Like other retirement homes trying to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Highview is closed to visitors.
That means families can’t visit their loved ones in their final moments, so Smit and her colleagues step in.
“You feel sad not only that someone has passed away, but you feel sad that their families can’t be with them when they’re in their last days,” said Smit.
“I’m hoping in my heart that (the residents) were able to feel us holding their hand, hear us talking to them.”
Highview Residences in Kitchener was one of the first homes in Waterloo Region to declare an outbreak of the coronavirus in late March. The outbreak occurred in one of the two buildings at Highview and was declared resolved this week. During the outbreak, 14 residents tested positive for the virus and seven died.
“It feels empty without them,” said Smit, noting Highview is a smaller facility and therefore a “close-knit family.”
There are currently 19 residents living in the building where the outbreak occurred.
Eleven staff members also tested positive for the virus. Smit was one of them, although she said she didn’t experience many symptoms. She felt tired and had a sinus cold.
“I was quite surprised actually and disheartened that I had it,” she said, not knowing how she caught the virus. “I felt like I was so diligent with my infection control.”
Seventy-two hours after experiencing her last symptom, and feeling well again, Smit was able to return to work as long as she wore full personal protective equipment — gowns, surgical and N95 masks, face shields and gloves — and followed other safety measures.
Since she returned she has been working with residents who have tested positive.
A staffing shortage made it critical for those who were well to come into work, said Joy Birch, Highview’s chief executive officer.
When the home first tested COVID-positive “a large percentage of our staff went off,” said Birch. At one point soon after, a number of staff got sick.
“We absolutely needed them,” she said, adding the Ministry of Health has told homes that health-care workers who test positive can return to work once their symptoms are resolved, if they are critically required and with certain measures in place.
As a personal support worker, Smit assists residents with their daily needs including bathing, dressing, helping them with meals and supporting them emotionally.
“I sometimes sit with them, read with them, do activities.”
Along with being concerned for Highview’s residents and her colleagues, Smit also worries about her family.
It’s been about 30 days since she moved into the basement of her home while her 13-year-old son and her husband live upstairs.
Her husband cooks meals and leaves them on a table for her to pick up. The three of them will visit each other by standing at either ends of the staircase.
Not only has her family been helping her through this, but her colleagues and the families of Highview residents have as well.
One resident’s family even dropped off a cooler of breakfast foods at Smit’s house to help her on the days when she has early morning shifts at work.