Smaller long-term care units one lesson of COVID-19 pandemic
Global News
Over 15,000 people have died in care homes across the country, the highest proportion among all 38 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Rows of rooms line a long, narrow hallway where a tall aluminum cart stacked with food trays is parked as staff at the front desk register visitors and offer surgical masks. At the other end, a large TV from the 1980s is being removed from the building, which could itself be replaced if a rezoning plan is approved.
The nearly 60-year-old Inglewood Care Centre, home to 230 residents, would be bulldozed, along with its hospital-like setting, as part of a “household of 12” model of private rooms based on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chris Russell, administrator of the home, said between 43 and 51 people live on each floor of the centre. But a rezoning application expected to go before the District of West Vancouver in April calls for a pair of buildings to accommodate two units, or households, of a dozen residents per floor.
“The big thing is you won’t have that large group dynamic,” he said, passing a dining room, the type that would no longer exist as a mass gathering place in the new home where members of the same household would eat meals together.
Baptist Housing, a non-profit provider of seniors housing with 21 homes around B.C., bought Inglewood in February 2020 with an aim to redevelop it in line with trends toward fewer residents per unit.
However, the pandemic forced the organization to reduce the number of people in each household from 23 to 12 in order to slash the incidence of COVID-19 or other infectious illnesses like seasonal influenza in keeping with guidelines set by health authorities in B.C.
The Health Ministry said design guidelines call for 12 to 18 people per unit, with a washroom in each person’s living space. Operators of owned and contracted homes may accommodate two people in a room for fewer than five per cent of residents if there’s a plan to transfer them to separate rooms on request.
Inglewood largely escaped the ravages of the pandemic and had no deaths.
More than 3,400 volunteers, armed with 78 helicopters, spent more than 440,000 hours in service in 2022.
In a late night statement, CMOH Dr. Mark Joffe announced five additional daycare sites in Calgary are closed due to positive E. Coli tests.
An expert said an E. coli outbreak is beyond the norm and food safety should be a given when it comes to daycare. But that's not all parents should consider in making their choice.
In provinces where there's no requirement that child-care centres supply food, such as Alberta, experts say there aren't robust regulations around food handling.
Rebecca Mayrhofer and other victim advocates have long sought reform of the system handling offenders deemed not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder.
There could be more cases, including among other Canadians travelling in France, because symptoms of botulism can take up to eight days to appear.
While Shell has its own net-zero ambitions, Susannah Pierce said the speed of global decarbonization is dependent on the entire economy transitioning, not just the energy sector.
Eleven days after an E. coli outbreak was declared in Calgary daycares, Alberta’s premier will be joining provincial and health officials for an update on the outbreak.
Earlier this month, the District of Tofino warned that water levels in its reservoirs had hit historic lows and it may need to implement its most extreme level of restrictions.
The technology uses AI to provide women with personalized risk estimations one to two years ahead of time, even when a current mammogram comes back clear.
A spokesperson with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission says engineering consulting firm Xona Partners is carrying out the review.