‘They’re not allowed to have showers’: What it’s like to live in an LTC home

Imagine going almost a month without a shower. That’s the reality for many long-term care residents, with just over half of Ontario’s nursing homes fighting active coronavirus cases and struggling to deal with the pressure on overburdened staff.

Helen Da Silva is the essential caregiver for her 83-year-old mother in long-term care. Da Silva told CityNews staffing is so short at her mother’s facility due to illness, public health guidelines have confined residents to their rooms for weeks and even minimal care is, in some cases, difficult.

“Imagine residents that are in diapers, that are incontinent and they’re not getting even one shower per week,” said Da Silva. “[The government] has to figure out a different way to control the spread without being so cruel to the residents because it is nothing but cruel.”

More than 4,100 nurses, personal support workers and other staff are COVID positive – the highest number since the start of the pandemic.

“Who is actually providing the care?” questioned caregiver advocate Vivian Stamatopoulos in an interview with CityNews. “Some homes are asking for family members to volunteer…It’s that level of desperation that we’re seeing right now.”

Helen Da Silva is the essential caregiver for her 83-year-old mother in long-term care. (Submitted by Helen Da Silva)

Helen Da Silva is the essential caregiver for her 83-year-old mother in long-term care. (Submitted by Helen Da Silva)

Da Silva said because she works fulltime, she also has two private caregivers who go in everyday to provide extra care and companionship to her mom. Even then, Da Silva is watching her mother decline and worries for other residents without any family or additional support.

“There’s been so much isolation during the pandemic that [my mother] has almost lost her voice…she spends the majority of the day by herself watching TV not talking to anyone,” said Da Silva.

“[The staff and management] are amazing, they’ve worked so hard throughout the entire pandemic, we really have to appreciate them. It’s about the system,” Da Silva reiterated. “The people who mandate this, if they had to be stuck in a room, days on end, I’m sure they would come up with a better way to manage this.”

‘This is probably the most dire situation we’ve been in yet’

“Long-term care is at a critical juncture. After decades of neglect by government after government, we’re struggling to hold onto staff,” Connie Lacy, board chair for AdvantAge Ontario, told the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs on Wednesday during pre-budget consultations.

AdvantAge Ontario is a provincial association representing community based, not-for-profit LTC providers. The association made 31 recommendations, including a raise for LTC workers that puts their wages in line with hospital wages, and funding for nursing homes to transition from tasked-based care to emotion-focused care models.

Stamatopoulos argued mandating N95 masks in long-term care and prioritizing boosters for staff could have helped alleviate the current care crisis.

“We’ve been consistently exacerbating the shortages with each wave…and we never properly replenish those staffers,” she said. “This is probably the most dire situation we’ve been in yet.”

With files from Cynthia Mulligan

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