Senior care facilities receive COVID-19 funding

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Seniors care facilities are getting funding from the provincial government to help them meet added costs and decreased revenues from COVID-19 – but only some facilities are eligible.

The government of Alberta announced an investment of more than $170 million to support staff and residents in long-term care, designated supportive living facilities, and senior lodges safe from COVID-19 on May 19.

Older people have had worse outcomes with the virus: of Alberta’s 135 reported fatalities as of May 25, 68 per cent (92) were of people 80 years of age or older, and 89 per cent were aged 70 years or older. About five per cent of people aged between 70 and 79 that contract the virus end up in an intensive care unit, the highest of any age group.

The virus has been particularly deadly in care facilities housing seniors. Three quarters of Alberta’s 134 reported deaths were in continuing care facilities as of May 22, according to Tom McMillan, assistant director of communications with Alberta Health. Within the Calgary Health Region alone, 17 long term care facilities or supportive living sites had outbreaks of the virus.

Reopening the province is dependent on protecting older people to whom the virus poses the greatest risk, said the provincial health minister, Tyler Shandro, in a release. “We know from our experience over the past few months that seniors are most at risk from COVID-19,” he said. “If our province is to carefully and gradually lift public health restrictions, we must first make sure our most vulnerable will remain safe.”

Mitigating the threat of COVID-19 in care facilities has added extra costs for these organizations. Wheatland Housing must meet the requirements of changing health orders, enhance staffing, and provide extra cleaning supplies and personal protection equipment (PPE), said Vickey Cook, Wheatland Housing Management Body (WHMB) chief administrative officer. It has also resulted in lost accommodation revenue as there are no admissions during the outbreak, and some residents have moved to higher care facilities or died (not from the virus), she said.

Wheatland Housing, a non-for-profit organization funded by government and municipalities, would have never predicted a pandemic causing such an impact on the budget, said Cook in a statement. 

“As WHMB continues to move forward in keeping the residents safe, healthy and happy, it’s reassuring to know that we will be supported financially,” she said. “We are all looking forward to the gradual lifting of restrictions that the residents have endured for over two months and counting.”

The funding will address the higher costs and lost revenues for these facilities, said Joesphine Pon, minister of Seniors and Housing, in the release. 

“Our government is strengthening our ring of defence around Alberta’s seniors,” said Pon. “The funding we are putting into place for seniors’ lodges to assist with costs arising from COVID-19 protective measures, will help protect seniors housing providers from financial pressures and will help our seniors to remain safe at home.”

However, only public facilities or those with provincial contracts are eligible for the funding. This means that private facilities operating without public contracts, such as Strathmore’s Meadowlark Senior Care Home, will not receive any of this funding from the province, explained Debbie Wakelam, owner and operator of Meadowlark.

“We’re all licensed by the government,” said Wakelam. “The problem is they are choosing to fund only the two that are contracted sites. They are excluding, in the province of Alberta, all the private operators.

“Why do I have to be licensed, follow all the regulations, and yet be excluded from funding?” 

AgeCare Sagewood, another licensed senior care facility in town, is privately owned but has a contract with Alberta Health Services and is thus still eligible for the funding, said Wakelam. AgeCare was contacted for comment but no response was received.

Like other care facilities, Meadowlark must still follow all Alberta Health orders and is experiencing escalating costs as a result, she said. Increased cleaning requirements means increasing overall staff hours “because you can’t take that (time) away from care,” she said. The orders have also pressured staffing, because as some staff worked at more than one site, Wakelam gave them the option to work at only one to reduce risk for residents, she said. “It’s those types of costs, and now we are being excluded.”