More than half of Canada’s COVID-19 deaths have been residents of seniors’ homes. Families worry about how homes are responding to the crisis. Marketplace takes a look at the challenges facing a residence north of Toronto.
Like many Canadians with loved ones in long-term care, being denied the ability to visit during the COVID-19 pandemic has been very difficult for Margaret Calver, 81, who used to volunteer daily at her husband’s residence, Markhaven Home for Seniors.
But for the facility north of Toronto, keeping visitors out has not stopped the coronavirus from getting in. And now families are concerned about how staff will manage to protect other residents and themselves.
“I’m very worried,” Calver said. “I don’t know how the staff is going to cope with all of this.”
Markhaven is one of at least 20 long-term care homes in Canada that have seen residents contract COVID-19.
A resident there was diagnosed with the illness on March 20, and since then, two personal support workers have also tested positive.
COVID-19 is particularly dangerous for the elderly, with a death rate that is significantly higher for those over 60. At least 20 seniors’ home residents in Canada have died of the illness — more than half of the country’s total death toll.
Eleven of those who died were residents of a single long-term care home in North Vancouver.
Given the serious health issues of residents and the already high demands on staff, seniors’ homes across the country are facing extremely difficult challenges during the pandemic.
At Markhaven, for example, all 96 residents, including the patient with COVID-19, are being quarantined in their rooms to help prevent the spread.
But that provides little comfort for Calver.
“The staff are overworked, terribly overworked at the best of times,” she said.
A Marketplace investigation last year revealed that long before the coronavirus pandemic, staff at Markhaven struggled to keep up with care needs. Staff admitted to skipping lunch breaks to get all their work done, and residents in wheelchairs were seen waiting up to an hour to use the restroom.
The dining room often had family members and volunteers helping to feed several residents at a time.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health issued a memo to the long-term care sector on March 14, strongly recommending that homes only allow essential visitors to enter due to the threat of COVID-19.
Calver worries about how Markhaven will get everyone fed without volunteers there to help.
“They’ll have to be fed in th