WRHA PCH COVID-19 Status Update
November 24, 2020
The WRHA’s long-term care program funds and oversees the operations of 39 long-term care facilities, including 38 personal care homes (PCHs) and the St. Amant long-term care facility, in the Winnipeg health region.
The WRHA has implemented and is managing a comprehensive system-wide approach to protect and care for residents and staff at Winnipeg PCH facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks. This involves careful, fluid coordination with WRHA clinical management, PCH management and staff, regional programs, Winnipeg Emergency Medical Services providers, and partners such as the Canadian Red Cross.
*Please note new updates will be published to this page twice weekly.
Current status:
As of 9 am, Nov. 24, there were active COVID-19 outbreaks at 28 of Winnipeg’s 39 long-term care facilities.
An outbreak is declared following the identification of one positive case in either a resident, a staff member or an external service provider (example: Agency staff).
The majority of current PCH outbreaks in Winnipeg involve a limited number of cases (fewer than 5).
Larger-scale outbreaks are currently being experienced at:
- Golden Links Lodge
- Holy Family Home
- Maples PCH
- Parkview Place
- Simkin Centre
- St Norbert PCH
The most recent Winnipeg PCH to declare an outbreak is Charleswood Care Home, on Nov. 21.
For a complete list of facilities with active COVID-19 outbreaks, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
Measures underway:
Staffing:
As of 9 am, Nov. 24, there were 159 staff members from Winnipeg PCHs who were actively COVID-positive and isolating at home. A further 104 are now considered recovered from COVID. We know many more are awaiting test results or isolating at home along with a family member and are unable to come to work.
The personal health and safety of our staff and residents is the WRHA’s top priority. We know this is a difficult time for everyone, especially those currently working or living at a personal care home experiencing a COVID outbreak. We commend staff for their courage and perseverance, and want to assure them that everything is being done to bring in additional support. We also want to wish a healthy recovery to all our staff members who are currently off isolating at home. We wish you the best and look forward to welcoming you back soon.
Staffing is, as a result, very challenged with ongoing monitoring and management. As part of these efforts, the WRHA has established a central process to manage and prioritize requests from PCHs for additional staff resources.
We have activated our hub model, which partners PCHs with hospitals and the WRHA’s community area offices in geographic hubs to share resources and facilitate staff being redeployed to PCHs in need.
This past weekend, the community sector assisted in filling weekend shifts in Winnipeg PCHs with redeployed home care workers. Victoria Hospital has also been providing staffing supports to St. Norbert PCH. This flexibility in the health care system allows us to focus our staffing resources on the areas of greatest need, which is necessary during these unprecedented and difficult times.
In partnership with Shared Health and the Provincial Recruitment and Redeployment Team, work is underway to strategically ramp down services such as outpatient clinics, day hospitals, community health programs, and develop a plan for the redeployment of this available staff to PCHs.
Development of a rapid response standby pool of nurses and health care aides is underway, to have a dedicated staffing pool available to work with little notice, to meet emergent/ urgent PCH staffing needs.
WRHA’s Occupational and Environmental Safety & Health department is also providing focused support to expedite PCH staff who have been self-isolating to safely return to work as soon as possible.
We anticipate the first cohort of 23 graduates of Red River College’s new uncertified health care aide micro-credentialing program will be available for deployment to PCHs starting early December.
On-site supports to PCHs and resident care:
WRHA on-site clinical leads are now currently supporting six PCHs: Golden Links Lodge, Maples PCH, Parkview Place, St. Norbert PCH, Simkin Centre and Holy Family Home.
These site leads are working with the management of each of these facilities to provide oversight and guidance on resident/ clinical care aspects, staff scheduling, infection prevention and control practices, and family communication. An action plan is developed to monitor progress.
PCHs continue to access the WRHA community intravenous (CIVP team) and palliative care team. The CIVP team has provided hydration to residents at Maples PCH, St. Norbert PCH, Golden Links Lodge and Holy Family Home. The palliative care team has also been supporting sites in need, providing support for end-of-life care.
Daily medical monitoring of residents continues to be provided onsite and virtually at Maples PCH, Golden Links Lodge, St. Norbert PCH, and Holy Family Home. The above-named facilities have physician coverage and nurse practitioners undertaking assessments of residents.
WFPS’s rapid response EMS team is not currently in place at any Winnipeg PCHs. Standard protocols for PCHs to contact EMS for resident care when required remain in place, as per usual. We want to thank our EMS partners for their support of PCHs.
WRHA’s Infection Prevention and Control team, along with regional educators, are providing further coaching and training around use of personal protective equipment (PPE), cleaning and other infection prevention and control practices.
Facility-specific information:
Maples PCH and Parkview Place have made significant progress in re-stabilizing from a staffing perspective of late.
Other sites we are closely monitoring include Fred Douglas Lodge, Bethania PCH, Beacon Hill Lodge, Charleswood Care Centre and Oakview Place. These sites have a significant number of pending test results for both residents and staff which could impact their outbreak management response.
The Canadian Red Cross continues to support Maples PCH with personnel. The Red Cross plans to deploy staff to Golden Links Lodge and St. Norbert PCH, starting later this week or next week. Holy Family Home is conducting an assessment with the Red Cross this week.
PCHs continue to make progress on implementing IP&C recommendations from the Canadian Red Cross and other action items identified by WRHA clinical site leads.
Management and Oversight:
Daily update calls with the management teams of all PCHs and the WRHA long-term care program have been established to share information, progress and challenges in real-time.
The WRHA clinical leads providing oversight at PCHs in greatest need have daily meetings with WRHA leadership, to give detailed updates on the status of their respective facilities, and to ensure resources are proactively directed to areas of greatest need. These clinical leads will be rotated to other sites or provide support to a cluster of sites, as needed.
Winnipeg PCHs currently experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks (as of Nov 24, 2020)
- Actionmarguerite St Boniface
- Actionmarguerite St Vital
- Beacon Hill Lodge
- Bethania PCH
- Charleswood Care Centre
- Concordia Place
- Convalescent Home
- Deer Lodge Centre (LTC)
- Fred Douglas Lodge
- Golden Links Lodge
- Heritage Lodge
- Holy Family Home
- Lions Personal Care Home
- Maples PCH
- Middlechurch Home
- Misericordia Place PCH
- Oakview Place
- Park Manor Care
- Parkview Place
- Pembina Place
- Poseidon Care Centre
- Riverview Health Ctr (LTC)
- River East
- Simkin Centre
- St Amant (LTC)
- Southeast PCH
- St Norbert PCH
- Tuxedo Villa