National Post (National Edition)
‘I’m scared. It’s exhausting’
Another care home revealed as epicentre
Paolo Stravato was among the first to die after the novel coronavirus slipped into Anson Place, a retirement and nursing home in downtown Hagersville, an Ontario town of about 3,000 people.
Maria, his wife of 73 years, is still there battling COVID-19.
Stravato, 95, is one of 15 residents at the 101-bed facility to die from the virus so far; Maria is one of 55 residents who tested positive. Along with 30 staff who also have COVID-19, the virus has hit more than half of the facility’s population, making it among the worst epicentres of the disease in Ontario currently.
Nursing and retirement homes have become the tragic pointy end of the COVID-19 pandemic across Canada.
Nearly half of Canada’s 735 COVID-19 deaths are linked to long-term care homes — and the number of deaths is expected to rise, federal health authorities said Monday.
“Residents of long term care homes are vulnerable to infections due to their communal living spaces, shared health-care providers, exposure to external visitors and transfers from other healthcare facilities,” Seniors Minister Deb Schulte said at the federal government’s COVID-19 briefing on Monday.
In Quebec, a police investigation is underway after 31 residents at a care home in Dorval died under what Quebec Premier François Legault alleged was “gross negligence.”
Pinecrest Nursing Home in Bobcaygeon, Ont., saw 29 COVID-19 linked deaths in its 65-bed home. In Toronto, 22 residents with COVID-19 died at Seven Oaks.
Eighteen residents at Lynn Valley Care Centre in North Vancouver died with COVID-19; 10 at Almonte Country Haven in Ottawa.
And on and on and on, in communities large and small.
The first COVID-19 case came to Anson Place Care Centre downstairs, in the retirement home portion of the two-level facility, where the more independent residents live, families were told. Soon, it spread upstairs to the nursing home.
“It was quick,” said the Stravatos’s daughter Mena. “It didn’t last long. He had a fever, he got congested. They did all they could, they gave him oxygen and made sure he was comfortable.”
When the home first closed its doors to visitors, she dropped her tablet off so her parents could still talk with family. Staff helped her father have a FaceTime video chat. When they did it again just two days later, her father was already on oxygen and unresponsive.
“But at least we got to see him. It was heartbreaking. It was hard not to be there in the end. That’s the worst part,” she said. He died April 5.
The virus continued to spread among the vulnerable residents.
“Mom and dad were together so it was obvious that mom would probably have it as well. They tested dad on a Friday and mom on a Sunday. She just didn’t get it as severe as dad, for whatever reason. She’s still with us and we’re hoping it doesn’t get any worse. I’m not sure how this deadly virus works.”
The virus spread among staff as well. As workers showed symptoms or tested positive, they had to stop working, leaving colleagues stretched and frightened for their own safety.
“I’m scared,” said a healthcare worker at Anson Place who did not want to be identified. “It’s exhausting and some of the girls are working 10, 11 or 12 days in a row.”
Anson Place staff are only allowed to travel between the facility and isolation in their homes, or rooms at a nearby hotel set up by the nursing home, a process set by the local health authority to reduce risk of spreading the virus around the community.
“We’re taking care of them the very best we can. We’re treating them like our own,” the worker said.
On the weekend, new infection control guidelines were issued for long term care and seniors facilities by federal health officials.
The guidance includes screening before shift for staff, prohibiting staff with symptoms from coming to work, wearing masks and other personal protective equipment, limiting staff to working in only one facility and restricting visitors.
Anson Place was already doing much of that in Hagersville, about 35 kilometres southwest of Hamilton.
The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit, its public health authority, has been tracking the situation and working with Anson Place to contain the outbreak. (Management of the home did not respond to requests for comment by email and phone prior to deadline.)
“As part of the Health Unit’s public health management plan, residents are in self-isolation in their rooms, and staff are wearing full personal protective equipment to prevent the transmission of COVID-19,” the health authority said. “All staff who are caring for residents at Anson Place are in self-isolation, with the exception that they may travel to and from work at the facility.”
Mena Stravato has been following with alarm the stories from care homes across Canada during the pandemic. She said she feels for the workers as well as residents and family members.
“It has to be hard, especially when the employees got infected. There were so few of them. I know they’re getting more people in to help so its getting better. They are working on it,” she said.
“I cannot put any blame on the staff. I think they did all they could. I admire them for even keep coming in. It would be very scary. They have families of their own, Heaven forbid they infect them as well.
“They deserve a medal,” she said. “Or extra pay.”