FRIDAY,MARCH13,2020 | THEGLOBEANDMAIL O NEWS | A1 1
350-bed long-term care facility with a 10-bed hospice,
personal support worker Katerina Slater sat at a table
festooned with coronavirus warning signs on Thursday
and asked everyone who came through the door five
questions about their health and travel history.
Those who passed the screening were directed toa
pile of pens to sign a paper visitors log. By the end of the
day, Kensington’s management had decided to give the
screening staff an iPad so visitors wouldn’t have to
touch the pens.
Kensington also decided on Thursday to cancel all
public tours, hold family meetings by phone for March
and April, ask relatives not to take their loved ones out
for anything other than essential appointments, and
cancel all multigenerational programming. That means
no more preschoolers to dance with the residents.
“If we take this all away, what does it mean for the
vibrancy of the people we serve?” Kensington Health
president John Yip asked on Thursday morning as the
home’s operations committee met in another room to
discuss which programs to cancel. “There will certainly
be a decrease in their quality of life.”
Still, Mr. Yip and other operators of Canada’s approx-
imately 250,000 long-term care beds are keenly aware
of the early evidence about how the coronavirus affects
elderly people in poor health.
In China, nearly 15 per cent of peo-
ple over 80 who contracted the virus
died, according to data published last
month by the Chinese Center for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention. The fa-
tality rate among those aged 10 to 39
was 0.2 per cent.
If a visitor brings coronavirus intoa
nursing home, residents are not just
in danger of being infected, they
would also be forced to stay in their
rooms to prevent it from sweeping
through the building, said Rhonda
Collins, chief medical officer for Rev-
era Inc., which operates 75 long-term
care homes and about 100 retirement
residences in Canada.
“That is a particular problem for
residents who have cognitive impairment, because they
don’t understand why they’re being isolated,” Dr. Col-
lins said. “It can increase confusion. It can increase ag-
itation.”
If Ms. Potvin could not go to Kensington, she would
have to pay for more hours of private care for her moth-
er, whose dementia is so advanced she needs two peo-
ple to help her out of bed.
Ms. Lee and her family already pay for an additional
50 hours of care at the nursing home, on top of the 3 0
hours Ms. Potvin spends helping her mother, a former
hospital social worker.
Many Canadian long-term care homes are under-
staffed, with some already struggling before the coro-
navirus hit, said Vicki McKenna, president of the Onta-
rio Nurses’ Association, which represents some nurses
who work in long-term care. The problem could get
worse if staff get sick or are forced into quarantine, she
added.
“I know our homes rely a lot on volunteers and fam-
ily,” Ms. McKenna said. “We all know there’s a crisis in
staffing in long-term care.”With a report from Andrea WooW
hen Ruth Potvin suffered a bout of bronchi-
tis recently, she got a glimpse of what could
happen if the new coronavirus keeps care-
givers like herself out of nursing homes.
While she was sick, Ms. Potvin wasn’t able to spend
her usual 30 hours a week at Toronto’s Kensington Gar-
dens helping her 83-year-old mother, Jean Lee, eat her
meals, attend physiotherapy and get in and out of bed.
Ms. Lee has advanced dementia and can no longer
speak or walk.
“The first time I came back after being away,” Ms.
Potvin said, “when she saw me, she cried.”
As cases of COVID-19 pile up across
Canada, long-term care homes like
the one where Ms. Lee lives are in an
excruciating bind. Elderly residents
are the people most likely to die if
infected by the new coronavirus, and
also the likeliest to be hurt by social
distancing – particularly if relatives
who provide essential care are
barred.
In British Columbia, outbreaks
have been declared at two long-term
care facilities, infecting seven health-
care workers and three residents.
This includes a man in his 80s who
was the first person in Canada to die
of the respiratory illness.
The first outbreak was declared
last weekend at North Vancouver’s
Lynn Valley Care Centre, where the man who later died,
one other resident and five health-care workers tested
positive.
On Thursday, an outbreak was declared at the Holly-
burn House Retirement Residence in West Vancouver,
where a man in his 90s and two health-care workers –
who also worked at Lynn Valley – tested positive.
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and
Labrador announced this week that they are barring
anyone who has travelled outside Canada from visiting
a nursing home for 14 days after their return.
The British Columbia government is advising people
to visit long-term care homes one at a time, rather than
in groups.
Several provinces are testing all nursing-home resi-
dents who develop respiratory symptoms for COVID-19,
even if they haven’t come into contact with a person
known to have the virus.
Ontario has ordered “active screening,” meaning a
staff member is supposed to stand near the doors of
long-term care homes to turn away staff, visitors, volun-
teers and others who have traveled to a coronavirus hot
spot and are feeling unwell.
In the lobby of Kensington Gardens, a non-profit,Caringforthemostat-risk:Howthe
outbreakischanginglifeinlong-termhomes
ISOLATION4LOVE
AgroupofvolunteerscalledIsolation4Loveishelp-
ing people in Edmonton in the hopes of reducing
the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“Our enemy is not the people, it’s the virus,” says
MichelleZhang,a44-year-oldfinancialplannerwho
is one of the group’s volunteers.
The group arranges transportation home from
the Edmonton airport and will even deliver grocer-
ies to anyone who wants to self-isolate and reaches
out to them on social media.
“Ifsomeonesays,‘Hey,Ineedatoothbrushortoi-
let paper,’ we can pick that up,” Ms. Zhang says.
Groceries and other items are dropped off at the
door with a receipt in the bag, and the recipient
sends an eTransfer to cover the cost, thereby avoid-
ing any contact with the volunteers.
Sofarthegrouphashelpedmorethan100people
since starting Feb. 1.
“We want to reduce the contact for everyone po-
tentially carrying the virus,” Ms. Zhang says.
DAVEMCGINN
Elderlyresidentsarethemost
vulnerable,butthey’realsomost
likelytobehurtbysocialdistancing
–especiallywhenthey’recutoff
fromlovedonesprovidingsupportKELLYGRANT
HEALTHREPORTERDr.AlamaskspeoplewithCOVID-19symptomstocall
apublic-healthhotlineandgetscreenedoverthe
phoneratherthancomeintoheroffice.
J.P.MOCZULSKI/THEGLOBEANDMAIL
Top:KaterinaSlater,left,apersonalsupportworkeratToronto’sKensingtonGardenscarehome,screensvisitor
JohnAlvisuponhisentrytothebuildingonThursday.Above:MichaelSoboloffspeakswithpatientGordonLawsonaboutprecautionaryproceduresatKensingtonGardens.
PHOTOSBYGALITRODAN/THEGLOBEANDMAIL[Socialdistancing]isa
particularproblemfor
residentswhohave
cognitiveimpairment,
becausetheydon’t
understandwhythey’re
beingisolated.Itcan
increaseconfusion.
Itcanincreaseagitation.RHONDACOLLINS
CHIEFMEDICALOFFICER,
REVERAINC.