Families say they're being left in dark during outbreaks at two care homes
The holidays have been difficult for many Calgarians, as public-health orders meant to curb the COVID-19 pandemic restrict gatherings outside one's household.
But for those with family members living in continuing-care facilities devastated by outbreaks of COVID-19, the Christmas season has been a nightmare.
Among the most severe active outbreaks in long-term care are at facilities operated by Agecare, a Calgary-based company with 10 locations in Alberta.
At Agecare Skypointe, site of the city's most severe active outbreak in continuing care, 154 residents have tested positive for COVID-19, and 58 of those cases are considered active. Twenty-six residents died in the outbreak. A total of 112 staff also tested positive, bringing the number of infections at the facility to 266.
Meanwhile, at Agecare Walden Heights, 95 residents have tested positive, with 32 of the cases active. Seventeen have died. As well, 61 staff were infected, bringing total cases in the outbreak to 155. The most recent numbers were emailed to residents' families Saturday.
“It's hard being on the outside,” said Carol Mccarthy, whose mother is a resident at Agecare Walden and requires care to manage her dementia. She said she doesn't know whether her mother has COVID-19 or even whether she has been tested for the virus.
Mccarthy said each time she has connected with staff at the facility to discuss the outbreak, they have responded the same way: “We're doing the best that we can.”
“I hear it from every person I talk to there, ` We're doing the best that we can,'” she said. “It's OK when you're cooking a burger or weeding a garden, but it's not OK when you're dealing with people's lives.”
Though her mother is at another Agecare facility, Kristina Dekuyper reported similar stresses.
Dekuyper said she has received only minimal information about the health of her mother, who lives at Agecare Skypointe and also has dementia. She said she was given conflicting information on her mother's COVID-19 diagnosis on Dec. 18 and was unable to receive clarification despite repeated inquiries.
She was unable to arrange a video chat with her mother until Dec. 30, when Dekuyper said the staff placed her on a call with another resident who was not her mother.
“It's just beyond cruel to go through this, to be honest. You just feel like you have no control,” she said. “This is life or death we're talking. My mom's 90 years old. She doesn't have a lot of luck if she gets COVID.”
The frustrating experiences indicate Agecare desperately needs external staffing, potentially from Alberta Health Services, to provide adequate care to residents, Dekuyper said.
In nearly identical statements Thursday, the medical directors at both Agecare locations, Skypointe and Walden Heights, said staffing was being bolstered by recruitment agencies.
“Staffing levels are critical for care provision, and staffing levels are assessed multiple times a day to ensure sufficient staff to support the needs of the residents,” the statements read.
The company declined to say whether they had requested staffing help from AHS. They also did not address families' concerns about communication, saying they had a dedicated 1-800 phone line and physicians are “often on-site for several hours” at the locations, connecting with front-line staff and families.
AHS said sufficient staffing levels are available at Agecare Skypointe and that the province has continued to provide some specialized staffing for supportive-living clients at there during the outbreak.
“We continue to closely monitor the situation and extend our condolences to the families who have lost loved ones during this time,” said a statement from AHS.
Mccarthy said long-term care homes should have been better prepared for a second wave of COVID-19 after the virus ravaged some sites in the spring.
“We're paying whatever we're paying every month for our parents to live there. We expect a certain level of compassion, we expect a certain level of interaction, we expect a certain level of cleanliness, all of these things that were outlined when we moved in,” she said.
It's been more than a month since Mccarthy was able to see her mother in person. A frequent visitor to the facility before the outbreak, she said it is “frustrating” not being able to help give her mother the care she needs.
It's been even longer for Dekuyper, who last saw her mother on Oct. 12. She said at that time she found six hand-sanitizer stations were empty, raising alarms before the outbreak even began.
She worries even more residents and staff could fall sick and face severe illness at the facility.
“It's too little, too late for some people. Luckily, my mom is still alive, but she looked terrible, just really, really poor,” Dekuyper said. “It's just brutal.”
Agecare said residents at their Skypointe and Glenmore sites received their first doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Thursday, with their other locations scheduled to receive inoculations in the following days.