Two seniors and one staff member are in isolation as Millrise Seniors Village joined a growing list of Calgary continuing care home impacted by COVID-19.
Vancouver-based West Coast Seniors Housing Management, which operates the home, confirmed the cases in a statement Friday.
“We’re very very anxious,” Rachel Barsky, whose grandmother has lived at Millrise for more than a decade, told Global News. “I talked to my grandmother again last night on the phone and she just said ‘I’m so scared.'”
Barsky says she became aware of the situation after her grandmother was given a single orange for breakfast instead of her usual full meal. When the 87-year-old asked about the change, she says she was told the Millrise manager of food service had tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing the shutdown of the kitchen.
In its statement, WCSHM said “Kitchen service was impacted, but managers and frontline staff were able to provide the breakfast and lunch emergency menu. Meal service for dinner will be coming from sister site Monterey, following appropriate protocols – and we plan to return to regular meal service at the site Saturday.”
WCSHM noted the staff member’s case is unrelated to the two residents — raising more concerns for Barsky.
“If they’re saying that is an isolated case separate from the residents, someone else has transmitted the coronavirus to at least two seniors who have tested positive,” Barsky said. “How did those two people contract coronavirus?”
“Unless universal testing is conducted in facilities, especially facilities with outbreaks, they cannot be said to be taking the appropriate measures.”
Barsky says she’s urged her grandmother to limit her interactions with staff as much as possible in the meantime and she wants to see better communication from building management.
Global News has reached out to WCSHM for comment, but has not heard back at time of publication.
In a second statement on Facebook, WCSHM admitted there was a lack of communication with families when the cases were initially confirmed.
“We want you to know that we fully appreciate your feelings of concern and anxiety, and how a lack of communication did not help matters – and for that, we apologize,” the statement read. “Thursday was a difficult day and we tried our best to manage as much direct family communication as possible. But we know there are a number of you who heard nothing, and that simply wasn’t good enough.”
The facility has pledged to phone families of residents who have tested positive on a daily basis to update the condition of their loved ones.
WCSHM also says it will provide all families with a daily email update on all health developments.
While Barsky says she appreciates the apology, she’s still urging continuing care homes across the country to test everyone in the building in hopes of tracing – and hopefully halting – the spread of the virus.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Friday testing was being expanded to include all units in continuing care facilities that have confirmed outbreaks. Everyone, regardless of whether they’re exhibiting symptoms, would be tested.
This would not be daily testing, but “a sweep” of tests, Hinshaw added. It is most useful at the beginning of an outbreak and repeat testing would not typically be done, she said.
As of Friday, there were 34 long-term care sites with at least one confirmed case of the novel coronavirus.
– With files from Emily Mertz