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By March, when the B.C. government declared an emergency because of the virus, the care home had already implemented many of the infection control practices that would become standard practice in the pandemic, such as keeping an up-to-date list of people entering the home.
The centre did have a community-based outbreak later among staff, but it did not spread to any of the residents.
It also enforced staff members’ hand hygiene, implemented a flexible, non-punitive sick policy for staff who must stay home, and continued one-on-one support programs for residents.
The care home paid full-time wages to all quarantined staff and they were trained in how to wear PPE, including gowns, gloves, face shields, surgical masks and N95 masks.
Staff helped residents stay in touch with their loved one through email and updates from care home staff, which the study found helped residents feel safe and keep spirits up.
“Because of their experience with previous infectious disease outbreaks, the facility leadership recognized the urgency of the situation through international COVID-19 news,” the report states.
“They quickly trained staff to protect themselves and their residents. Most importantly, they put aside budgetary concerns and focused on resident and staff safety.”
The study was funded by the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research COVID-19 Research Response Fund.
The long-term care sector has been the epicentre of COVID-19 in Canada, accounting for 81 per cent of the country’s COVID-19-related deaths and the number of staff infected represents 10 per cent of all Canada’s cases, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
The study notes the key drivers of high COVID-19 infection rates in long term care facilities are communal space use, low staffing ratios and “high-density” physical contact between staff and residents due to residents’ high care needs.
B.C. was the first Canadian province to record a COVID-19 outbreak in long term care, followed by outbreaks in 23 additional care homes in less than one month.
ticrawford@postmedia.com
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