The Canadian Armed Forces, which deployed members to help respond to the pandemic in five long-term care homes in Ontario, detail the mistreatment and abuse of residents in a report released Tuesday. Here is a sample of their observations.
long-term care facility assessment
The report included a scorecard grading
each facility on a set of criteria.
respond to the pandemic in five long-term
The assessment was based on a series of factors.
This chart outlines a simplified version of how
each centre scored.
Scoring
Majority of
conditions
met
Conditions
progressing or
regressing
No cond-
itions
met
Four factors
1. Stability
2. Cases
Ministry of Health and
long-term care facility
confirm stability of
situation and required
tasks
Long-term care facility
able to manage COVID-19
cases and new cases are
decreasing
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Appropriate PPE avail-
able, cleaning and
waste management
plans established
Number of staff suffi-
cient for residents.
Availability of civilian
medical staff for day
and night shifts
long-term care facility assessment
The report included a scorecard grading each
facility on a set of criteria. The assess-
ment was based on a series of factors. This chart out
lines a simplified version of how each centre scored.
Scoring
Majority of
conditions
met
Conditions
progressing or
regressing
No conditions
met
Four factors
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Ministry of
Health and
long-term care
facility confirm
stability of
situation
and required
tasks
Long-term
care facility
able to
manage
COVID-19
cases and
new cases are
decreasing
Appropriate
PPE available,
cleaning and
waste man
agement plans
established
Number of
staff sufficient
for residents.
Availability of
civilian medi-
cal staff for
day and night
shifts
long-term care facility assessment
The report included a scorecard grading each facility on a set of criteria.
The assessment was based on a series of factors.
This chart outlines a simplified version of how each centre scored.
Scoring
Majority of
conditions met
Conditions progressing or
regressing
No conditions
met
Four factors
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Number of staff
sufficient for resi-
dents. Availability of
civilian medical staff
for day and night
shifts
Ministry of Health
and long-term care
facility confirm sta-
bility of situation
and required tasks
Long-term care facili-
ty able to manage-
COVID-19 cases and
new cases are
decreasing
Appropriate PPE
available, cleaning
and waste manage-
ment plans estab-
lished
Eatonville Care Centre
- Residents with COVID-19 are allowed to wander, risking spreading the virus to others.
- Hypodermoclysis supplies are reused even after their sterility has been compromised, for instance, a catheter being pulled out and left on the floor.
- Poor palliative care standards, including no mouth or eye care supplies for dying residents.
- Generally poor pre-catheterization care, for instance, retracting penis foreskin for cleaning isn’t happening enough, and CAF members found nearly a dozen incidents of bleeding fungal infections.
- A general fear of using supplies because they cost money and much of the medication had expired.
- Residents who soil their bed despite incontinence products are not allowed to have an extra soaker pad or towel to help protect their sheets.
- People who have COVID-19 share rooms with those who don’t have the virus.
- People are often sedated with narcotics when they are likely just sad and need support.
- Staff are abusive and display inappropriate behaviour, in one case aggressively changing an incontinence product, and others involving aggressive transfers and making degrading comments toward residents.
Inspection reports reveal critical gaps inside Quebec nursing homes ravaged by COVID-19
If Doug Ford wants long-term care reform, he should be bold and decisive and just do it
Eatonville
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Eatonville
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Eatonville
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Hawthorne Place Care Centre
- Little to no disinfection had been done before the forces arrived and significant fecal contamination was observed in people’s rooms.
- There is an insect infestation involving ants, cockroaches and another species.
- Delays changing soiled residents are damaging their skin.
- Staff are forcefully feeding and hydrating residents, causing audible choking. Patients cry for help, but staff don’t respond for up to two hours. Residents have not been bathed for several weeks and topical prescription medication is shared between residents.
- There is a linen shortage, forcing residents to sleep on beds without linen, damaging their skin.
- Palliative care orders are not charted, are unknown to staff and therefore not often observed and residents’ documents are out of date.
Hawthorne Place
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
JOHN SOPINSKI/THE GLOBE AND MAIL
SOURCE: canadian armed forces
Hawthorne Place
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
JOHN SOPINSKI/THE GLOBE AND MAIL
SOURCE: canadian armed forces
Hawthorne Place
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
JOHN SOPINSKI/THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: canadian armed forces
If Doug Ford wants long-term care reform, he should be bold and decisive and just do it
Orchard Villa
- There are cockroaches and flies.
- The hallway outside of a patient’s room smells like rotten food. Multiple food trays are found stacked inside a bedside table.
- Patients are left in bed in soiled diapers. Support workers and nurses are not always sitting residents up before meals, drinks or medication, leading to choking and in one incident, appears to have contributed to someone’s death. Nurses appear to document assessments without having assessed the resident.
- Patients sleep on bare mattresses because of a lack of access to linen or laundry.
- There is no communication between personal support workers and nurses when patients choke on their meals or can’t chew.
- Nursing staff are unsure about how to document status changes, how to change medication and where supplies are located, and there is no accountability for staff in terms of upholding basic care needs.
Orchard Villa
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Orchard Villa
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Orchard Villa
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Altamont
- Because of staffing shortages, most residents do not receive three meals a day, meals are delayed, and residents are underfed.
- A significant number of residents have pressure ulcers because of prolonged bed rest. Fifteen residents have wounds that need care.
- When the Forces members arrived, many residents had been bound in bed for several weeks, with no evidence that they had been repositioned or properly washed.
- A non-verbal resident wrote a disturbing letter alleging neglect and abuse by a personal support worker, which was immediately dealt with by management.
- Medications are being reported as being given, when they are not.
- Staff regularly argue, using derogatory language and make degrading comments to residents.
Altamont
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Altamont
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Altamont
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Holland Christian Homes (Grace Manor)
Staff move from COVID-19 positive units to other units without changing contaminated personal protective equipment.
Some staff are not following policies, such as washing their hands between patient interactions. They wear the same gloves for several tasks and clean them with hand sanitizer.
Staff also use an improper sterilizing technique with dressing changes, such as wound packing.
Other concerns about staff include leaving food in a resident’s mouth while the person is sleeping, aggressively repositioning a resident and not helping residents during meals. The staff prefer to write that the resident refused to eat than to help them.
Holland Christian
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Holland Christian
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Holland Christian
MAY
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1. Stability
2. Cases
3. Protection
4. Staffing
Sign up for the Coronavirus Update newsletter to read the day’s essential coronavirus news, features and explainers written by Globe reporters.