Measures Taken in British Columbia to Protect Seniors and Workers at Long-Term Care Facilities
- Barbara Biley -
Comox Valley meeting on the crisis in seniors
care, February 24, 2020.
Under the Emergency Program Act that
was invoked
by the government of British Columbia on March
26, the Provincial
Health Officer Bonnie Henry issued an emergency
order restricting
long-term care workers to a single site. The
purpose of the order is to
minimize the possibility of spread of the
COVID-19 virus by care
workers
who work in more than one long-term care
facility for seniors.
The first cases and the greatest number of
deaths from
COVID-19 in British Columbia have occurred at
the Lynn Valley Care
Centre in North Vancouver. As of March 26, 46
residents and 24 staff
have tested positive and 11 residents have died
at this home. There are
outbreaks affecting seniors and workers in more
than 10 other care
homes
in British Columbia and both Ontario and Quebec
have reported outbreaks
in long-term care homes.
The Lynn Valley Care Centre is illustrative of
the
problems that exist in long-term care,
particularly in the homes owned
and operated by private companies and not the
Health Authorities. The
owners of the Lynn Valley Care Centre
subcontract work so there are
three separate employers at the facility. Only
the nurses are
represented by a
union. As is the case throughout the province,
many of the workers are
part-time or casual and work in more than one
facility, increasing the
possibility of transmission of COVID-19 and any
other communicable
disease to seniors from one home to another.
Wages and working
conditions in the homes owned and operated by
the Health Authorities
and some of the not-for-private-profit homes are
the same throughout
the province, part of two "master agreements,"
the Facilities
Collective Agreement (covering workers other
than nurses) and the
Nurses Collective Agreement. Workers are
organized and represented by
unions, mainly the Hospital Employees' Union and
the BC Government and
Service Employees' Union, in many of the
privately-owned homes but
wages and working conditions are substantially
lower than those in the
two master agreements.
In collaboration with the unions, a plan was
worked out
to facilitate the restriction of workers in
long-term care to working
in only one facility during the COVID-19
pandemic in such a way that
the province takes responsibility for ensuring
adequate staffing levels
and workers' jobs are protected. All employers
were required to submit
"personal and employment related information of
staff including their
name, contact information, social insurance
number and other
information" in electronic form to the
Provincial Health Officer by
midnight, March 28. Some, if not all, aspects of
staffing for all
facilities will be centralized in order to
ensure adequate levels and
be the
responsibility of the government. Workers have
to choose which facility
they will work at and their jobs will be
protected at the facilities
they have not chosen. Workers will be guaranteed
the same number of
hours of work at the chosen facility as they
currently work at multiple
facilities if they wish to work the same number
of hours.
This is a measure that will greatly strengthen
the
protection of seniors and the workers who care
for them. It is unclear
whether the same measures apply to other
situations, including group
homes for people with disabilities. It is clear
that there are other
crisis points in the health care system,
including home care where
workers go to the homes
of several vulnerable people in the course of a
day, and the needs of
seniors and people with disabilities that hire
and manage their
personal care staff with funds from the Health
Authorities.
The unions representing health care workers
have been
involved in the discussions that preceded the
orders and will continue
to be involved in the implementation.
This article was published in
Number 17 - April 2, 2020
Article Link:
Measures Taken in British Columbia to Protect Seniors and Workers at Long-Term Care Facilities - Barbara Biley
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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