As cold and flu season sets in and Covid numbers climb, the Assiniboine Centre in Brandon, Man. has had problems with a lack of hot tap water due to system upgrades.
A nurse who works in the facility, which has 119 patients in rehabilitation, palliative and geriatric units as well as patients awaiting placement in the main hospital, complained to the Manitoba Nurses Union last week.
“For the past month we have had no hot water! We are washing patients with cold water or water we have warmed in the microwave or the kettle,” reads a memo sent last week.
“We are now in a Covid outbreak and have no hot water!”
Health region says hot water was available during water tank replacement
Prairie Mountain Health Region spokesman, Blaine Kraushaar, said a leaking hot water tank was replaced and caused disruptions in the system but hot water was rerouted to the Assiniboine Centre from the adjoining nurses residence during the system overhaul.
“In normal operation, hot water is available within seconds of opening a faucet,” Kraushaar said. “During the tank replacement, certain areas of the Assiniboine Centre had to allow the water to flow longer before receiving hot water.”
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A woman with a family member who is a patient told Global News taps did not have hot water in some rooms. Her family member was moved to one that had ‘warm’ water. She asked that her name not be used as her loved one is still a patient.
For sanitary reasons she was concerned that only cool water was available in washrooms.
A staff member, who Global News also isn’t naming, said nurses were forced to find different spots in the centre to access hot water or heat it themselves.
“Nurses had to go somewhere to get warm water to bathe patients,” said the woman whose family member is a patient. “He never experienced a cold wash-down, he’s had good care. (The staff are to be commended for all they do.”
Kraushaar said the hot water supply was back to normal on Oct. 17.
“This is yet another example our nurses being asked to do more with less in order to provide safe patient care, ” said Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union. “The conditions many of our members have found themselves in are no shock to me but would surprise many outside of healthcare.”
She said the union has received complaints from nurses working at “some long-term care facilities” that are without telephone services “for months at a time” and lack air-conditioning in hot summer months.
“We’ve even heard from nurses who’ve worked in facilities where the only clean water was brought into the building in buckets,” Jackson said.
As for why it took many weeks to upgrade the system, Prairie Mountain Health Region said “global supply issues” for equipment was to blame.
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