Winkler care home braces for possible staff shortage as vaccination deadline approaches

A long-term care facility in Winkler, Man., is asking families of residents to be ready to pitch in or remove their loved ones as early as next week should the care home experience staff shortages due to COVID-19 vaccination and testing requirements.

In a letter dated Oct. 13, Salem Home outlines a worst-case-scenario contingency plan if staffing drops when provincially mandated vaccination or frequent testing for health-care and personal care home workers comes into effect on Monday.

Public health orders say staff who aren't vaccinated must have a negative COVID-19 test result within 48 hours of each shiftas of Oct. 18 but there are fears some unvaccinated workerswill also refuse to be tested.

The facility is asking families to consider volunteering to do laundry, feed residents, clean their rooms, dress them and brush their teeth, and create activity plans for residents.

Winkler care home braces for possible staff shortage

3 years ago

Duration 2:04

A long-term care facility in Winkler, Man., is asking families of residents to be ready to pitch in or remove their loved ones as early as next week should the care home experience staff shortages due to COVID-19 vaccination and testing requirements.

"If we do not have staff, we may have to go one step further and ask that you would take your loved one home to look after them," the letter says. "Please consider what this would look like for you."

Salem Home goes on to say it recognizes taking a loved out of care may not be possible for all families for a variety of reasons, but tells families to expect a call from the facility next week to go through the contingency options.

In past waves of the pandemic, before care home residents were vaccinated, some facilities encouraged loved ones to help out in similar ways.

CBC News has reached out to Salem Home and the province for more information but has yet to hear back.

Long-term care facilities were among the hardest hit in Manitoba's early waves of the pandemic, with hundreds of residents in the province dying before the vaccination campaign ramped up.

Salem Home is located in an area with some of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the province. The health districts of Winkler and nearby Stanley have the second lowest and lowest vaccine uptake, at 42.6 per cent and 24.7 per cent, respectively.

They're part of the Southern Health Region, where a disproportionate number of cases and hospitalizations are helping todriveManitoba's fourth wave. As a result, Southern Health is under more strict restrictions than other regions.

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