Families of special care home residents speak out about poor care during pilot project

Family members who witnessed their parents struggle to get the care they needed at special care homes in northern New Brunswick during a government-approved pilot project are calling for an investigation.

Mike Chiasson and Lise Dubois don't know one another but have lived parallel lives, trying to care and fight for their parents. They contacted CBC News to share their stories in hopes it will improve future care for vulnerable seniors.

Both of Chiasson's parents spent their later years at Manoir de la Vallée in Atholville, where Mike made a 25-minute-drive to visit them every day. He watched care at the home decline during the time they lived there, and he got to know the other seniors, many without family members who could visit as often as he did.

"I said, 'There's a lot of people here who don't have people like me. And people have to speak out, for God's sake," Chiasson said.

"They deserve better than what they got … I couldn't believe how much I had to fight for good care."

Chiasson's parents, Rolande and Lorenzo, lived their whole lives in Dalhousie.

Rolande was a champion speed skater and a great cook. Lorenzo, whose nickname was Chazz, was a member of Dalhousie's Sea King Diving Club and got his pilot's licence at the age of 60.

Rolande died in the fall of 2018 at the age of 80, and Lorenzo died this past June at 85.

Chiasson said the number of care givers and cleaners dropped dramatically during a government-approved pilot project at the Lokia Group of homes, which include Manoir de la Vallée in Atholville, Manoir Brise de l'Oasis and Manoir Oasis de la Baie in Bathurst, Manoir Sugarloaf in Campbellton and Manoir Sunrise in Dalhousie.

Under the pilot project that began in March 2019 and continued until the pandemic began a year later, the homes were exempt from following the staff ratios laid out by the Department of Social Development.

Lokia president and CEO Guy Tremblay told CBC News the results of the pilot project were "very good" and the goal was to have more personal care workers during the day, but several former employees told CBC News that during the pilot project, hours were cut and caregivers and cleaners let go.

• Higgs government approved drastic cuts at special care homes that continued during pandemic

They said that during some shifts, there was one employee caring for 18 residents. According to the standards for adult residential facilities in New Brunswick, there should be a minimum of three caregivers for 18 residents during the day.

Chiasson said as the pilot project went on, he found himself doing more and more for his father.

"I had to change his bedding," he said. "Every day I had to bring him sandwiches and cookies … because he wasn't allowed to have any at night. Sometimes I [did] have to change his Depend, because it wasn't done."

'The time wasn't there for the workers to do the work'

Chiasson finally complained to the Department of Social Development after an incident in February, when he walked into his father's room at suppertime and found him "naked, half-lying on his bed."

He asked what was going on, and his father explained that he had diarrhea, and there was an accident.

"And I said, well, how come nobody came and helped? He said, well, somebody did, but she told me it was suppertime — she had to go for supper."

"The time wasn't there for the workers to do the work. Simple as that, you know."

Chiasson took his father to the shower, got him washed and dressed, changed his bed and scrubbed the floor and the bathroom.

"Then I took him to Tim's," he said.

When he complained to Social Development, Chiasson said he was told, "It's not going to be any better at any other care home."

'The first year was good'

Lise Dubois' experience caring for her mother, Berthe, who was a resident at Manoir Sugarloaf in Campbellton, is similar.

She moved her then 86-year-old mom into the special care home in June 2018 because she was in the early stages of dementia.

Dubois said she chose the Manoir because it was close to her home, and she was able to visit every day.

"The first year was good," Dubois said, but in the summer of 2019, as the pilot project was underway, she noticed many of the home's best staff had left, and things "got worse and worse."

She started cleaning her mother's room herself, and she would also take her laundry home to wash it and change her bed.

I never thought it was that bad until I seen it with my eyes.- Lise Dubois

Even though she believes she did everything she could, an incident in January 2020, during the pilot project, still bothers her.

One night, her mother fell on a trip to the bathroom and couldn't get back up. It wasn't until the next morning at 6 o'clock  that a worker arriving for the day shift discovered her sleeping on the floor, Dubois said.

"When I heard that, I was shaking my head," she said. "It's like this doesn't make any sense.

"I know the girl who found her in the morning, she's a good worker and she helped Mom so much, and she couldn't get over it, that she had spent all night on the floor … and she felt really bad about it."

Dubois complained and eventually spoke with the worker who was there that night, who told her she had been working alone and was the only caregiver in that section of the home.

Fall causes fractured back

In the days that followed, her mother complained of back pain and was often crying. It took Dubois two trips to the hospital, visits with two doctors, two sets of X-rays and a CAT scan to finally reveal that her mother had fractured two vertebrae in her back.

After one month in the hospital, she was released back to the home in late February, just before the COVID-19 lockdown began.

No longer able to visit, Dubois would check in on her mother three times a day by telephone to remind her to go to the dining room. She said if she didn't, sometimes no one would come to get her, and she would miss her meals completely.

"If Mom forgot to go for meals, some [workers] would go and remind her, and others wouldn't," she said. "Many times she would call me at 6 p.m. and say she didn't eat."

Dubois said that with so few staff and the extra cleaning required during the COVID-19 lockdown, getting a bath became a rare occurrence at the special care home.

In the last few months that her mother was at Manoir Sugarloaf, she went as long as two weeks without being bathed.

"I felt so friggin' bad," Dubois said. "I called Social Development. I said, 'That's enough. Do I have to fight to get her washed?'

"I never thought it was that bad until I seen it with my eyes."

A weight lifted

Dubois' mother, who turned 89 in December, is now being cared for at a nursing home, which offers the higher level of care she now needs.

Since she's been there, Doucet said, it feels like "1,000 pounds" has been lifted off her shoulders.

"I can breathe now where I couldn't before."

Both Doucet and Chiasson said their parents were vibrant, active people who volunteered in their communities and, like all seniors, they deserve good care at the end of their lives.

Chiasson said he loves to look back at his parents' wedding photo, and remember them as they were.

"When they dance and they look at each other it's like they connect — to me they were soul mates."