Responding to challenges presented by the pandemic has been difficult, but it has brought about opportunities to look at doing things differently, says Michelle Karker, CEO of The Elliott Community.
Even if those opportunities came along because there was no choice but to change.
Since the pandemic struck back in March, the city’s designated long-term care facility has lost an “unprecedented” 27 personal support workers (PSWs) to other centres, inspiring both a restructuring of roles internally and a new partnership with Conestoga College that aims to fill the labour pool shortfall.
“We were able to cover off any area that might have been short, whether that was extra cleaning, feeding, whatever needed to be done, temperature-taking,” said Karker. “Staff has done an incredible job making sure our home stays safe and COVID-free.”
In the early days of the pandemic long-term care centres were closed, meaning residents’ family members weren’t able to help with their care, and more than 100 volunteers weren’t allowed in either.
“We all stepped up and learned valuable and humbling skills like learning how to feed a resident or any other jobs that needed to be done,” Karker explained. “I commend (Elliott staff) for doing all those extra jobs and really stepping into roles that perhaps they may not have been initially comfortable.”
In July, Conestoga College announced a new, five-week resident home aid program that provides training in infection prevention and control, sanitation and housekeeping, laundry, food safety and service as well as COVID procedures related to long-term care homes.
By partnering with the college, Karker said The Elliott was able to get some of the help it needed through student placements, in addition to creating job openings for graduates.
“So far that’s worked to a point," she said of the Conestoga partnership, "but there is a scope of practice, and roles and responsibilities that we have to make sure we’re adhering to as well.
“We still have a lot of pressure points and challenges filling all of our lines,” Karker added, noting lines is the term used for areas within the centre. “There are some lines that are still needing to be filled, but we have staff who are covering them to be legislatively compliant.”
In order to cover all the lines, she said some staff are working overtime or have moved from part-time to full-time.
To assist with recruitment efforts, the Elliott is looking to offer more competitive wages and benefits to bring it “in line with other organizations,” Karker said. With that in mind, it’s put forward a budget to the city seeking an increase of $502,800, bringing municipal funding to $1.87 million.
“We’ve had increasing competition. … There’s a province-wide scarcity of those resources, not only nursing but PSWs. There’s competition between other homes, other for-profit, unionized homes.”
That shallow labour pool was created, in large part, by a provincial decree early in the pandemic that long-term care workers must choose a single place of employment – a move Karker agrees was needed to stem the spread of COVID-19 in the industry.
As a result, 27 casual and part-time PSWs left The Elliott for other centres. Karker didn’t have access to annual turnover numbers by the time this article was published, but noted it’s much higher than usual.
“That pressure of fighting COVID has been critical to looking at increasing wages in our home,” Karker continued. “We have to value the work our staff are doing to care for the residents and we need to be legislatively compliant in maintaining our staffing as well.”
While the city pitches in toward the cost of long-term care, the bulk of funding comes from the province. The city is not responsible for contributing to The Elliott’s retirement living or life lease units.
“We’re covering the … other operations,” Karker said of increased wages and benefits.
Two Elliott employees have tested positive for COVID-19 at different points since the pandemic began, but the virus has not been confirmed in any residents.
