After months of family caregivers being barred from Ontario’s nursing homes because of COVID-19, a chief medical officer at one facility says the province should change its rules and allow them back inside. He fears for his residents’ well-being as they endure ongoing isolation.
Dr. Jobin Varughese knows all too well the heartbreaking toll wrought by COVID-19 at Ontario’s long-term care homes.
He’s chief medical officer at Holland Christian Homes’ Grace Manor in Brampton, near Toronto, one of the facilities where the military was first deployed in the spring as death tolls across the province’s care homes were rapidly rising.
Grace Manor lost 12 residents. Dozens more, including staff, fell ill — a dark time followed now by another threat causing Varughese just as much, if not more, concern than the coronavirus: the ongoing isolation and loneliness of those in his care.
“As a home that’s had COVID, I never want to see it come back,” he said. “But one of the problems is, we’re never going to be able to replace a family member.”
“There’s a lot of different roles that [family] caregivers play that we’re just missing.”
Varughese is now calling on Ontario’s government to allow family caregivers back inside long-term care facilities, describing them as essential. He argues that with infection control training and protective equipment, it can be done safely even as the pandemic drags on.
“Our homes are finding themselves not able to provide everything that they would love to provide because that next level of glue of [family] caregiver is just not present,” he said, adding family members often play a crucial role in feeding residents, helping them fall asleep, and calming those with dementia.
“One of the benefits of having caregivers is that some of the tasks that may take an hour, or hour-and-a-half, families are very willing to spend that time … and staff can then move to another task — they’re then able to do two or three more things during that same time frame.”
‘Our visits were definitely what kept her together’
It’s the exact kind of care father-son duo Ali and Azeem Shah say they used to provide for their mother and wife, Naila Shah, who lives at Seven Oaks long-term care home in Scarborough, Ont., where 42 residents died during of COVID-19.
Before the lockdown began in March, the family went to the home twice a day, helping out at meal times and with other tasks. They consider themselves essential caregivers and they’re desperate to be allowed back inside to help care for Shah. Her family said she feels like a prisoner.
“There can be so many other things taken care of that us family members can do that will alleviate the home and give them a break,” said Azeem Shah, her son. “Our visits were definitely what kept her together in terms of being happy and living a life worth living — not being abandoned or alone.”
WATCH | Growing calls to allow family caregivers back in Ontario nursing homes:
The Ontario government is facing growing calls to allow family members who help with caregiving back inside long-term care homes after being kept out for months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2:08
For Ali Shah, the twice daily visits helped too. The retiree has been