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‘We need help’

Seaview Manor workers picket for change to long-term care

NICOLE SULLIVAN CAPE BRETON POST nicole.sullivan@cbpost.com @CBPostNSullivan

GLACE BAY — Alice and Jayne are proud of the work they do as long-term care professionals.

But the licensed practical nurse (LPN) and continuing care assistant (CCA) who work at Seaview Manor in Glace Bay fear staff shortages are causing their work to suffer.

"We want families to know we're not lazy. It's that we're working short and it takes us longer to do resident care when we are short-staffed," said Alice, not her real name.

"And we're not allowed to tell families we're shortstaffed. If we do, we get reprimanded but it's the truth."

Both Alice and Jayne spoke to the Cape Breton Post on the condition their names weren't used because they fear repercussions for speaking out.

However, this fear didn't stop them or a couple dozen of their co-workers from participating in an information picket held outside Seaview Manor Wednesday morning.

Currently, the provincially regulated ratio of care is 2.45 hours — a figure that hasn't changed in 20 years. A study done last year by CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) determined 4.1 hours of care is the best ratio for both staff and resident health.

At Seaview, to meet the provincial ratio, six staff per shift are scheduled for a ward. Often only three staff are available. Some shifts on the ward with dementia and Alzheimer's patients have only two of the six staff.

Seaview Manor chief executive officer Eric Doucette sent a statement via email.

"Seaview Manor, like many long-term care facilities in Nova Scotia, is challenged on a daily basis to manage what has long been understood as a critical shortage of qualified staff, especially continuing care assistants," said Doucette.

"This critical shortage is one of the reasons why the government has now created a new Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment focused on recruitment and retention and I look forward to the solutions it will bring to the sector."

STAFFING CRISIS

Collectively, Alice and Jayne have worked in long-term care for decades. Never before have they seen staff shortages

as bad as they are now.

The two believe as many as 27 staff are currently on sick leave from Seaview and have heard estimates of $250,000 being spent on overtime in the last quarter.

The Cape Breton Post was unable to confirm these numbers with Seaview Manor before publication time.

"We are proud Cape Bretoners. We take pride in our work and the care we give residents. But it's hard to do our work without enough staff," Jayne said.

"We can't take the time we need to do what we do for resident care without enough staff."

Working short-staffed has led to an increase in staff injuries as well as an increased risk of residents falling, something which Alice, Jayne and other staff at the picket said could affect their licenses.

Brian Morrison, a CCA at Seaview Manor for more than two years, wasn't concerned about being reprimanded for speaking to media while at the picket and called on the government "to step up."

"We're not going against the manor. We're not going against management. We just, we need help. We're tired, we're overworked . ... The government needs to step in." said the Glace Bay resident.

Throughout the summer, Morrison said he believes he worked only one day when they were fully staffed. Knowing each shift he walks into will probably be shortstaffed is "discouraging" for Morrison.

"The residents aren't being neglected. That's one thing. It may take us until the afternoon to get everyone washed, but we're at least getting everyone cleaned up and up for breakfast and we'll wash them later," explained Morrison, who called the staff-resident relationship at Seaview "like family."

"Everything gets done but we don't want management and the government to see that, hey, they can get it done with three people, let's just save money there and put that money somewhere else because that's not okay."

FIXING THE PROBLEM

CUPE national representatives said they're working with the government to rectify the problem, calling on them for increased wages, decreased ratios and improved training incentives to recruit new staff.

"We're hoping that the new government is going to follow through, although the tour that Premier (Tim) Houston is on didn't include any members, or we couldn't get any members, it was only for Nova Scotia Health employees and doctors," said CUPE national representative Tammy Martin.

"These folks tried to register (Tuesday) and they couldn't. There was no venue for them to speak about their concerns."

The Nova Scotia government was unable to fulfill an interview request from the Cape Breton Post. Through email, they said Houston's health-care tour is "specific to frontline acute and primary care, so it does not include long-term care and mental health."

Morrison, Jayne and Alice worry if things don't change, the number of long-term care professionals will continue to decrease.

"People don't want to be CCAs anymore because of the physical, the mental work. It takes its toll on you and the wages are so low, so low, it's incredible. It's not that much more than minimum wage," Morrison said.

"The promises are out there for $25 an hour. That's not going to happen overnight but you would get more people taking the CCA course if people got paid something of what they are worth. And right now we're only getting paid a fraction of what we are worth."

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2021-09-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

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