A former Regina nurse is stressing the importance of COVID-19 precautionary procedures for frontline social workers after an interaction earlier this week.
“Those workers are kind of key right there to stop community transmission,” Lorna Evans told Global News.
Evans says that she was sitting in her sun room Tuesday when she saw two women walking up to the front door of her tenant’s home across the street.
She says she believes they were frontline child protection workers conducting a surprise visit on her tenant, a young mother who became involved with the Ministry of Social Services after suffering a brain injury three years ago.
Concerned that the visitors may not be practicing proper social distancing, Evans says she decided to cross the street to investigate.
“As soon as I saw them going into the house I was alarmed. So I decided I needed to go in there and ask those people to leave,” she recalled.
Evans says that in her mind, she didn’t see sufficient action being taken to guarantee COVID-19 could not be spread.
“They went in there and didn’t really practice any PPE or social distancing,” she said of the visitors, who she says would have been less than two metres away from the tenant when entering the house.
“There’s a potential for many people to be infected by that kind of a breach.”
Evans expressed concerns about the PPE she says she saw the visitors wearing. She says she wasn’t sure if the gloves the visitors were wearing were medical grade.
“They may very well have been quite porous. Until I know otherwise, I’m not confident in the gloves they were wearing.”
Additionally, she said she didn’t think the masks worn by the visitors were properly fitted.
“They may as well not have on any protective equipment if they use it the wrong way.”
Evans also questioned whether or not her tenant had been screened for COVID-19 exposure or symptoms before the visit. She says her tenant had recently been admitted to a local hospital.
She also expressed concern that her tenant, and others like her, may be afraid to deny entry to social services workers even if they’re concerned safe COVID-19 prevention practices aren’t being followed.
“They worry their child could be apprehended,” she said. “There’s always a possibility that if the worker doesn’t like what you’re doing you could be in a lot of trouble and could lose your child.”
“I don’t want them put at risk,” Evans continued. “They need an advocate.”
Global News could not verify that a social services visit occurred Tuesday due to privacy legislation.
The Ministry of Social Services confirmed Thursday they can’t speak to individual cases.
In a statement, they called child and family programs a “critical service” and said “it’s vitally important the Ministry of Social Services continues to respond to reports of child abuse or neglect in the family home.”
The ministry did not state, however, that they were responding to any such reports on Evans’ street on Tuesday.
They went on to say “we are in constant contact with Public Health regarding our practices to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19. This is important for the children and families we work with, as well as our many staff. Our guidance comes directly from them as we are continuously reviewing and adjusting all of our practices. We have also obtained Personal Protective Equipment for front-line staff.”
Evans, meanwhile, also acknowledged the importance of the work that frontline social services workers do.
“I know they’re an essential service,” she said. “I know that they need to see for themselves that things are being done properly, and that the children are safe.”
She said that at the end of the day, she’s just hoping to reiterate how important awareness and education are when it comes to properly dealing with novel viruses.
“However, they need to not only protect that child but also protect the whole family and community from picking up an infection.”
The 64-year-old, who was still working in health care when H1N1 surfaced, said she also hopes everyone is well aware of the severity of the situation.
“My husband and I are in a higher-risk category. We have to be careful. I’m doing my part. I’m not ready to die yet.”
Comments