The province has released a progress report on what has been done so far to implement changes recommended in a review of the situation at Maples Long-Term Care Home.
The Winnipeg facility was hit hard during the COVID-19 outbreak in October 2020, with 56 deaths linked to the virus.
Health and Seniors Care Minister Heather Stefanson said Friday that within the last three months, all of the short-term recommendations, as well as recommendations specifically aimed toward the Maples facility, have been completed.
“A substantial amount of work has been done on implementing the recommendations we received after the COVID-19 outbreak at the Maples Long Term Care Home,” Stefanson said.
“We have made significant progress toward ensuring an outbreak like this doesn’t happen again.”
In November of last year, the province hired an advisor to review the outbreak and provide recommendations.
The report showed confusing pandemic planning and failures in multiple areas, including short-handed staff scrambling to keep up, as well as the hiring of untrained and overworked staffers.
The province said working groups were created with representatives of Shared Health, care home associations, regional health authorities and more, with the goal of planning and implementing the recommendations in the report.
Among the changes tackled so far:
- creating a provincial care home plan
- developing psychological supports for staff and residents
- having a clear plan for every resident in case of an outbreak
- improving communication with families and other stakeholders
Stefanson said while short-term goals have been met, the work is still ongoing and medium- and long-term work is expected to be complete by the end of December.
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