Long-term care residents push for system review
Infrequent baths, low standards criticized
Confined to a wheelchair and incontinent, Terena Denham has spent the past eight years at a long-term care facility in northeast Calgary, and says she rarely gets bathed more than once a week.
The lack of hygiene leads to regular skin infections, fear that she smells when she leaves her room, and a consistent beating down of her spirit, which she somehow keeps positive.
“It’s really hard some days, you’re afraid whenever you go out, you think ‘Do I smell? Does my chair smell?’ It affects your confidence, it affects your self-esteem,” says the 38-yearold woman, born with spina bifida that led to an infection that forced doctors to amputate both legs.
Denham joined Liberal MLA Kent Hehr and a handful of other residents from the Dr. Vernon Fanning longterm care centre for lunch to discuss the ongoing issue. It was brought to light last month when Hehr visited the centre and discovered many residents were upset over receiving only a single shower or bath every seven days.
They don’t blame the Fanning Centre, or its stretched staff, arguing their plight is typical of most long-term care residents around the province thanks to a system-wide lack of funding.
George VanderBurg, the associate minister for seniors, has vowed to review the province’s standards on bathing in care homes.
But Hehr, the MLA for Calgary-Buffalo, argues the bathing issue is merely part of a much larger problem around under-funded care homes and a constant bungling of health care in Alberta.
Hehr and the residents from the Fanning Centre are now demanding a widespread review of the entire long-term care system in Alberta.
“This is a government that only responds to public pressure. And this issue shocks and stuns the citizens of Alberta. We can only hope there’s enough pressure on the government so they do something,” Hehr said.
The Fanning Centre is operated by Carewest, a not-for-profit organization owned by Alberta Health Services. The residents’ care concerns will be reviewed by executives at the centre starting today, according to AHS.
Meanwhile, Denham says staffing levels and basic medical supplies are extremely low.
“I’ve had people tell me, I won’t be changed or bathed until there’s a commercial during Grey’s Anatomy.
“On my unit, they’re always running around too, looking for catheters, soap, even Band-Aids.”
Resident Debi Savoie, 40, and her boyfriend, Roger Schneider, 44, also a resident, say that a lack of cleanliness at the facility has become a health issue, and is leading to infections that could easily be prevented.
“Catheters, instead of being sanitized and cleaned with vinegar, I have seen them just quickly rinsed with cold water.
“I feel terrible seeing the way everyone is treated around me.”
Allegations of unclean catheters were not expressed previously, AHS spokesman Don Stewart said late Thursday, noting Carewest will now investigate. Nurses must perform all catheterizations using sterile equipment, Stewart added.
Vanderburg has also argued residents do have appropriate bathing and care in all provincial facilities.
The frequency of bathing for continuing care residents is developed within an individual’s care plan, according to AHS, which is usually put together by a nurse.
Provincial guidelines allow all clients a choice of bath or shower at least once a week. But that’s only a minimum standard, and additional baths and showers are provided whenever possible, at no extra cost. As well, baths are augmented by regular sponge baths.
But Denham says whenever she has asks for more than one bath a week, she is charged a $50 fee that she cannot afford. And for sponge baths, she adds, “every time they always say to me ‘cold water is fine, right?’
Stewart contended the bath water temperature is checked regularly.
“Carewest would not turn off the hot water every night,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Hot water would be required for nighttime care, cleaning of equipment and any of the other care or hospitality requirements.”
The province also came under fire earlier this year from the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees and the Wildrose party for serving precooked and unappetizing meals to seniors in AHS facilities. Following the flurry of criticism, the health superboard ordered improved food at smaller care facilities.