Ian Comeau is worried about his 87-year-old father, a resident of the Manoir de la Vallée in Atholville, N.B.
The province’s first coronavirus-related death, reported Thursday, was an 84-year-old man from the facility with underlying health conditions. The virus made its way into the home amid a cluster of cases in the Campbellton region.
Comeau’s father, Romeo, lives in a different wing from the outbreak.
“He’s in his room, isolated, like a prisoner, but I think a prisoner can travel around,” he tells Global News. “My father has to stay in his room almost for 14 days. So it’s got to be hard on him, it’s got to be hard on all the other residents.”
There were concerns about the home’s workers being needed at several facilities, but the regional director of the Lokia Group, which owns the home, along with other facilities, previously told Global News staff have only been assigned to one home.
Advocate Cecile Cassista says it should’ve been a provincial requirement, not just a suggestion, that staff don’t work at more than one special care or long-term care home.
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“When you actually pay (workers) well, provide benefits to them and give them the proper hours… Workers can’t live on 10, 15 hours a week,” says Cassista, the executive director of the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents’ Rights. “That’s why they’re forced to have to work in multiple areas.”
The New Brunswick Council of Nursing Home Unions agrees that no matter what type of care home, no matter what department it falls under, workers shouldn’t have to be at multiple facilities, which increases the risk the virus will spread.
“It should have a directive and not a recommendation,” says Sharon Teare, the union president. “We know if (the virus gets inside), it’s going to spread like wildfire.”
The province’s social development minister previously said staffing levels can force people to work at multiple locations.
Meanwhile, Cassista is calling for a public inquiry into the response to COVID-19, particularly in the Campbellton region.
Dorothy Shephard, the minister responsible, says she’s not opposed to the idea, but says “if we really look at all the facts that we have, because much of it is at our disposal, I think we should go from there.”
For families though, they’re just praying their loved ones — and all seniors — stay healthy.
“In my life, I was told to always be positive, but I hope all the cases will be negative,” Comeau says.
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