Third personal support worker dies of COVID-19
Posted May 2, 2020 4:59 pm.
Last Updated May 2, 2020 8:07 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The union representing healthcare workers in Ontario is once again calling for better protection for frontline workers following the death of a third person support worker from COVID-19.
The woman, identified as 59-year-old Sharon Roberts, worked as a PSW for more than two decades caring for seniors at Downsview Long-Term Care Centre in North York.
“The senseless death of another frontline workers is the third loss of a personal support worker in less than three weeks and demonstrates ongoing negligence and failures in the long-term care system,” said SEIU Healthcare president Sharleen Stewart in a statement.
“What we’re hearing is a cold, scripted, and coordinated response from long-term care operators: that they’re simply following all guidelines set by the Ontario government. In contrast, we’re hearing a loud chorus of cries from healthcare workers asking for masks being withheld due to rationing.”
Downsview Long-Term Care says a total of 56 residents and 46 employees have tested positive for coronavirus. A total of 14 residents have died of the disease but there was no mention of the healthcare worker’s death in its statement.
GEM Health Care Group, which operates Downsview, says staff from Groves Park Lodge in Renfrew, Ont., are expected to arrive at the facility on Sunday to provide additional staffing support. They add that staff at all of their facilities are wearing masks and those caring for residents who have tested positive are “wearing full PPE.”
The Ministry of Long-Term Care says more than 1,500 healthcare staff have tested positive for COVID-19. A total of four healthcare workers have died – Christine Mandegarian who worked at Altamont Care Community in Scarborough, Arlene Reid who worked for the Victorian Order of Nurses in Peel Region and a man in his 50s who worked as a cleaner at Brampton Civic Hospital.
