Simkin Centre personal care home seeking volunteers to help feed residents

A personal care home in Winnipeg is looking for volunteers immediately to don personal protective equipment and head inside their facility to help feed residents.

"We want to make sure we are able to offer basic care for the residents, which would include feeding," said Laurie Cerqueti, CEO of Saul & Claribel Simkin Centre.

"Wewant to be proactive. So if it ever does get to the point where it's a very dire situation, we are absolutely prepared," she said.

The request comes as more than 100 long-term care home residents acrossManitoba have diedafter being infected withCOVID-19.

In total, 16 residents at the Simkin Centre have tested positive for COVID-19 four of them havedied.

Personal care homes everywhereare struggling to find staff, Cerquetisaid, especially since the provincebanned care home workers from moving between facilities in May, a measure aimed atpreventing employeesfrom spreading the virusto other care homes.

"Now staff are getting sick or they're a contact of someone who is sick," Cerqueti said.

"It's very unpredictable, because you never know when staff are not going to be able to work. On a day where staffing is good, it can change very quickly," she said.

More than a dozen employees who work at the 200-bed facility have tested positive, she said.

Cerquetisaid her facility wants to avoid the "heartbreaking" situations in other care homes.

"Based on previous outbreaks in other provincial jurisdictions, we've learned that a lack of staffing can contribute to issues with the proper feeding of residents in personal care home," a post on theSaul & Claribel Simkin Centre's Facebook page reads.

The request from theSimkin Centre comes as Maples Long Term Care Home, a different facility in Winnipeg, is under fire after eight residents there died within a 48 hour period earlier this month.

Paramedics had to be called to thatfacility to give intravenous fluids to some resident while giving food and water to others. The health authority later revealedis hadbeen given incorrect information about the staffing levels in the facility.

Maples is the site of the deadliest personal care home outbreak, with 47 deaths, including two announced Saturday.

Feeding residents, laundry, helping with video calling

Anyone can volunteer at the Simkin Centre,Cerqueti said. New volunteers will receive the same training as staff on feeding and swallowing, wearing personal protective equipment and client confidentiality, she said.

Right now, two designated caregivers are allowed in the facility per resident. Afew weeks ago, staff started toask those visitors to help providecare to their loved one, including feeding and helping brush their teeth,Cerquetiadded.

Now that thereare a number of active cases inside the facility, some of those volunteers arenowhelpingin other wayslike helping launder 1,000 isolation gowns every single day.

Volunteers are also needed to helpscreenpeople who come into the facility and assistresidents video chat with family members who residentshaven't seen in more than half a year.

"It's been eight, ninemonths now," Cerquetisaid. "It's very hard for them. They miss their families. Many of them are having to self-isolate in their rooms which is hard. We are doing our best to have in-room recreation, FaceTime, spiritual care will go room to room, but it really is a difficult time."

On Saturday, the province announced 10 new deaths, with seven of them tied to long-term care home outbreaks. The province also announced six more facilities with COVID-19 cases, including several in southern Manitoba.

CBC News asked the province to provide updated numbers on Saturday of the outbreaks, but a provincial spokeperson said those numbers would not be made available until Monday.

The majority of thelong-term care home deaths in Manitoba areconnected to two facilities both owned by Revera, one of Canada's largest private nursing home providers.

Those two facilities are Maples Long Term Care Home, where a total of 47 residents have died, andParkview Place, where 26 people have now died.