Care home residents in Saskatoon may have limited visitors, but they’ll still be able to vote in the upcoming municipal and provincial elections.
As of Wednesday morning, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is limiting visitation in Saskatoon SHA facilities and care homes to family members visiting for compassionate reasons. This includes visiting residents while they’re on end-of-life care or before they have a major surgery.
“The new visitor limitations announced in Saskatoon should not have an effect on voting at Parkridge or long term care homes in Saskatoon or in the province,” SHA media relations officer Amanda Purcell said in an emailed statement to Global News.
“While there are visitor restrictions in place, Elections Saskatchewan officials are being considered essential workers and will be supported to enter long term care homes as required to facilitate voting.”
Purcell added there will be extra PPE and safety protocols in place to ensure voting procedures won’t create a higher risk of contracting the novel coronavirus.
More than 400 licensed personal care facilities are holding in-person voting this year.
According to Elections Saskatchewan outreach and communications director Tim Kydd, some community polls were held at independent living residences in past elections, but most have turned down the option for this provincial election.
Many people in the province took advantage of the Saskatchewan Election vote by mail option. While it’s not known how many were living in care homes or SHA facilities, more than 61,000 people in Saskatchewan submitted a vote by mail application.
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