Staffing shortage left several residents without breakfast on Saturday at Hogarth Riverview Manor

Sue Gammond was irate on Saturday after learning her 90-year-old mother-in-law and several other residents missed breakfast because a staff member called in sick at the newly built Hogarth Riverview Manor.

It’s not acceptable, said Gammond, fully laying the blame at the feet of the province, who she said does not provide adequate funding to properly staff Ontario’s long-term care facilities.

“I want to say I have confidence in the system, but it isn’t rocket science to figure out they have to put more funding into the front line and make it work,” Gammond said on Monday afternoon, hours after her husband met with St. Joseph’s Care Group officials to discuss what went wrong.

Luckily her mother-in-law was able to get herself out of bed, get dressed and into her wheelchair while waiting for a personal support worker to arrive.

Others weren’t so fortunate.

“The people didn’t get fed and they didn’t get bathed,” said Gammond, who turned to Facebook on the weekend to vent her frustrations, a post that went viral at the local level.

According to Meaghan Sharp, vice-president of senior’s health and chief nursing executive at St. Joseph’s Care Group, overall staffing ratios at the new facility are lower than they were at the city-run Dawson Court and Grandview Lodge, where many of the residents formerly lived.
Each unit at the new Hogarth Riverview Manor houses 32 residents. During the day there are three personal support workers assigned to each unit.

Each unit also has a complement of registered practical nurses and there is a registered nurse on duty to oversee the entire operation. The numbers are lower in the evenings and overnight.

Sharp said they are at the mercy of the funding they receive through the regional Local Health Integration Network.

“It’s a different scenario with the ratio from the municipal homes because there is a tax subsidy base that the municipality gets to run those homes, whereas we get money from the Ministry of Health. But we are funded correctly and we are staffed adequately,” Sharp said.

Gammond maintained there is a gap in the system that could lead to future issues. This past weekend no additional help was available to fill in for the sick employee.

It’s dangerous path to tread, she said.

“If one or two people have the flu or can’t get to work or have kids that are sick, then it’s in high turmoil,” Gammond said.

However, she said she was satisfied to learn Hogarth Riverview Manor officials intend to hold an internal investigation into what went wrong over the weekend and have assured her management will be on duty on weekends to address any future issues.

Sharp said should a similar case arise down the road, PSWs, RPNs and RNs have been told to join forces and pitch in to ensure no patient is not tended to in a timely fashion.

On Jan. 11 support workers rallied in front of MPP Michael Gravelle’s office, asking the province to reinstate minimum care standards in its senior homes. Prior to new legislation being introduced, the ratio was one worker for every eight residents. That ratio has since shifted to about one in every 11 residents.