After his wife died of pancreatic cancer earlier this year, Eric de Schepper said it felt as if his heart was falling apart. He now fills his time advocating for others, whose loved ones are part of the province’s home care program.
Katherine Ellis died on Feb. 18. She was promised home care five weeks earlier, but home-care workers arrived too late. By then, it was a few days after she passed.
In the months since, de Schepper has since been trying to raise awareness about his wife’s story. He filed a complaint of wrongdoing with the Manitoba Ombudsman, forcing an external review of the home and palliative services with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.
The external review of home and palliative care services in the WRHA is expected to be completed within three to four weeks.
De Schepper also met with the seniors and long-term care minister Scott Johnston to discuss a number of things on April 18. It was a meeting that he said went well.
“In the end, the goal is to prevent that from happening as much as possible,” said de Schepper. “The minister emphasized that he, like anyone else, finds it sad that people fall through the cracks.”
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In an emailed statement on April 19, the health authority said it was looking to fill staffing shortages across its home care program by recruiting and training uncertified workers. Since February, 15 uncertified home care attendants have been working in the community.
“Leadership is also reviewing and analyzing numerous areas of service delivery and developing methods to enable long-term and sustainable quality improvements to Home Care service delivery,” read the statement.
“Our goal is to ensure we are providing robust, safe, high-quality Home Care services to support clients who are able to remain at home for as long as possible.”
But Debbie Boissoneaut, president of CUPE 204, said training isn’t happening fast enough. She also said that as the state of health care is crumbling, there needs to be more certified workers addressing home care needs.
“The lack of staffing is causing a lot of burnout. People are overworked,” said Boissoneault.
CUPE 204 is the union representing health care workers in Manitoba.
For de Schepper, his wife’s death left him not only advocating for others but also grieving his own loss and reconnecting with his community.
And there are moments when he continues to remember her.
“Katherine was a very unique person. One of those ‘one-in-a-million’ people,” said de Schepper.
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