Minister of Seniors says pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities in senior care

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Alberta seniors hard, and also exposed serious flaws in the long-term care facility system.

Canada's Minister of Seniors, Deb Schulte, held a virtual round-table on Tuesday with groups in Calgary and Edmonton to talk about the impact the pandemic is having on this vulnerable age group — and what has to change going forward.

"The pandemic has shown us where some vulnerabilities are," Schulte told CBC's Andrew Brown after the meeting.

She said the 15 organizations who participated in the discussion brought the most serious issues to the table.

"They had similar issues, a lot of concerns about seniors isolation, elder abuse, access to services, and so we had an excellent discussion," she said. "These groups represent thousands of seniors."

Earlier in the day, Schulte went on the Calgary Eyeopener to discuss the issues facing seniors' care and the challenge of outbreaks in care homes.

"This pandemic has revealed the vulnerabilities in the long-term care sector, and that is broader than just in the homes," she said. "It's also in those serving in communities, in people's homes — home care — and also assisted living. So we have learned some very very strong lessons about the vulnerabilities in that sector."

Federal support 

Long-term care facilities fall under provincial and territorial government jurisdiction, but Schulte said the federal government will continue to provide support to the provinces as they deliver care.

"It is a sector that is regulated by the provinces and territories, so we've been working with them to help them both with advice, in terms of guidelines in the early days, with financial support for keeping seniors safe with protective equipment. We recognize the staffing issues that were a challenge," she said. "So we've provided support to the provinces to be able to give additional support and financial money to those that are in the vulnerable sector, like personal support workers."

Alberta has faced several COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities in Alberta, including MacKenzie Towne in Calgary, and the Good Samaritan Southgate Care Centre in Edmonton, which is still struggling to get its outbreak under control. 

Challenges in care homes

Schulte said one of the risk factors is the practice of workers going to work in more than one care home.

"There's a lot of risk factors involved in this pandemic that are affecting long-term care, and that is personal protective equipment, that is making sure you have enough staff, so that staff can be in one place, that they have a living wage and can earn a living wage by working in one place and getting the supports that they need to be able to support their families doing that kind of a job."

Schulte said the long-term care home issues will not be solved overnight.

"It's balancing that challenge of keeping the residents safe, and not exposing them to the virus," she said.

"I know there's a tremendous amount of effort in these facilities and some are doing an excellent job of making sure that they're doing that on a daily basis, opportunities for seniors to either visit with their family members, bringing them outside into little shelters … all centres are doing things a little bit different but the idea is we recognize how serious isolation is in terms of mental health and wellness and how fast people deteriorate if they don't have those family connections."

Schulte said she recently lost her mother-in-law in a long-term care home, and that the issue is close to home. She added that many seniors are now more plugged in to visit with family through iPads and phones than they were before, and that the government will continue to support more of that.

"(To) make sure that people are connected even though they can't be physically together, and we are a very physical species," she said. "And not to be able to hug someone. I can't tell you how challenging it was for us."

 With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.