Eight residential care homes in Nanaimo and Parksville are receiving money from the provincial government to increase staff and provide more hands-on care time for seniors.
The B.C. government will invest $6.4 million in 2018-19 to increase the number of care aides across Vancouver Island. The Nanaimo and Parksville facilities will receive a $1.9 million share.
This will bring many residential care homes closer to meeting the provincial standard of 3.36 hours, or about three hours and 22 minutes, of daily care services such as bathing or therapy for each senior in care.
Speaking from Eden Gardens, one of the facilities that received funding, Health Minister Adrian Dix cited a report by B.C.’s seniors advocate Isobel Mackenzie that found 85 per cent of residential care homes in 2016-17 were failing to provide the minimum amount of care hours.
“That means we were 1,500 workers short of meeting the minimum care standard,” Dix said. “That means there wasn’t enough care at the bedside. What is that care? It’s some of the most intimate things in our lives, things like helping people go to the washroom, things like bathing.”
In an interview with the Times Colonist, Dix said seniors who rely on care aides are receiving “some of the most personal care and support you can have.”
The eight affected care homes in the Nanaimo-Parksville region are: Eden Gardens, Kiwanis Village Lodge, Malaspina Gardens, Nanaimo Seniors Village, Wexford Creek and Woodgrove Manor in Nanaimo, and Arrowsmith Lodge and Stanford Seniors Village in Parksville.
On Vancouver Island, the money will mean about 50,000 more direct-care hours will be provided to seniors in this fiscal year, the Ministry of Health said.
The funding, which began for some facilities in the spring, allowed Eden Gardens to hire one full-time health care aide and 10 casual employees, increasing the direct care time to 3.36 hours per client per day from 3.15.
The Hospital Employees’ Union has pushed the B.C. government to increase staffing levels to ensure there are enough aides to provide quality care.
“This is very welcome news for seniors and for care aides who are working in pressure cooker environments,” said Jennifer Whiteside, secretary-business manager for HEU. She said residential care aides have the highest injury rate among care workers in the province, so she hopes the additional staff will lead to fewer cases of injury.
Island Health board chairwoman Leah Hollins said care aides are essential lifelines for seniors in care, becoming like members of their family.
“Thanks to today’s announcement, their work will be a bit easier and care homes across the region will be able to better provide care,” she said.
The funding is part of a total $48 million allocated to health authorities across B.C. in 2018-19 to fund one million more hours of direct care.
The B.C. government announced in its February budget that it would spend $240 million over the next three years to increase direct daily care hours to an average of 3.36 per resident by 2021.
