Families are allies in care of residents in long-term care

Re Long-term care restrictions downplay role of families, letter, March 22

We feel great empathy for the family of Maria Adelaide (Coutinho). Our mother was a resident at the same long-term care home and passed away on March 5.

While we will miss her forever, we are grateful that she died before the coronavirus prevented us from providing her with essential care.

Our mother was in long-term care for eight years. During that time, we witnessed an incredible change in the demographics of longterm care residents. Where, initially they were mobile, capable of taking care of themselves and needing little nursing care, we saw most residents become dependent on staff for all personal care, such as hygiene and even feeding.

We were able to be there for our mother and provided her with care staff were just not capable of providing.

We witnessed staff under great stress to meet the growing demands of residents, while funding remained largely static.

These same staff are going to be under increasing stress and duress as some of them fall ill and others are torn between their own families and the long-term residents they are so devoted to caring for on a daily basis.

While managers of long-term care facilities are doing there best to protect residents from outside infections, there may come a time, sooner than expected, when families that have taken great care in protecting themselves from coronavirus, will be invaluable allies in the fight to protect our beloved elderly.

If government is not willing to fund long-term care facilities adequately, in these unprecedented times, it may be that we need “all hands on deck” to protect those who have contributed so greatly to the fabric of a caring county.

Janice Vansickle on the behalf of the family of Lula Vansickle, Victoria, B.C.