Red Cross help is on the way for Parkview Place and Maples care homes
Care homes at the centre of large and deadly COVID-19 outbreaks to receive extra staff
The Canadian Red Cross will step in to help some Manitoba personal care homes fight COVID-19.
Revera, the for-profit company that owns several personal care homes dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks, says it has reached out to the Red Cross for staffing help for Parkview Place and Maples Long Term Care Home, according to an update posted to its website.
The company says it's working with the Red Cross and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority "on a plan to provide additional staffing resources to support the residents with delivery of meals, recreation activities and companionship [and] maintaining isolation in rooms."
News of the Red Cross assistance comes more than a month and a half after the outbreak was declared at Parkview Place and a week-and-a-half after COVID-19 started spreading through Maples Long Term Care Home.
The announcement also comes on the heels of a series of CBC News reports which revealed lack of isolation of residents with COVID-19 from uninfected ones, staff shortages and filthy conditions at Parkview Place.
Provincial health officials conducted a second surprise inspection of Parkview in less than two weeks last Wednesday and found "no areas of immediate concern," they said.
"The review team did not observe any gaps in resident care," said a spokesperson for the health department in a written statement.
Provincial health inspectors did find physical distancing of residents needs improvement as does maintenance and housekeeping.
Revera has already started adding staff
"Staffing is stabilizing at Parkview Place," wrote Dr. Rhonda Collins, Revera's Ontario-based chief medical officer.
"We have also augmented the regular staff with agency nurses and personnel from security firms to help keep residents isolated in their rooms," wrote Collins.
The Red Cross says it is currently working with the province on the staffing plan but left talking about the details up to provincial health officials.
The WRHA says Red Cross personnel will be placed in support aide roles and it's working to have this staff in place as soon as possible. "These roles do not provide personal health care to residents," wrote a WRHA spokesperson.
Staffing assistance will only go to the Parkview and Maples homes for now, but the WRHA says that could change should the need arise elsewhere.
Manitoba has declared COVID-19 outbreaks at more than a dozen care homes since the pandemic began. As of Tuesday, care home outbreaks had resulted in at least 373 cases and 38 deaths.
Almost two-thirds of those deaths are at Winnipeg's Parkview Place. The outbreak at the privately-run care home has resulted in 23 deaths and a total of 138 cases since it was declared on Sept. 15, the province said on Monday.
But Manitoba's largest care home outbreak is at Maples Long-Term Care Home, also in Winnipeg. The outbreak at Maples, declared on Oct. 23, has resulted in 157 cases as of Tuesday according to Revera. Seven people have died according to the province.
Revera announced it has hired a Winnipeg-based epidemiologist to help with contact tracing and to help figure out what Collins is calling an "unusually high rate of asymptomatic positive cases and atypical symptoms" at the personal care homes.
Province officially asks for federal help
Health Minister Cameron Friesen says a letter officially asking for federal support through the Canadian Red Cross was sent to Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair on Tuesday.
"Initially, health system leaders are working with the Red Cross to assess the ability to assist at Parkview Place and Maples Long Term Care Home. The specific role of the Red Cross is still being finalized and more details will be released in the days to come," wrote Friesen in an emailed statement.
Friesen said Monday he also raised the question of military support for Manitoba intensive care units in his Sunday conversation with Canada's Health Minister Patty Hajdu
"It wouldn't be the point we are at now," Friesen said. "At this point in time, those discussions remain in place, there is some investigation."
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With files from Aidan Geary