Barrie PSW describes absolute terror of staff, residents in COVID-19 ravaged LTC centre
As of Monday afternoon, 53 staff members and 63 residents have tested positive for the virus; There have also been nine resident deaths
Jan 19, 2021 9:02 AM By: Shawn Gibson
For the families of people living at Roberta Place, as well as those working inside the Essa Road facility, these past several days have been filled with stress and fear.
For the past two and a half years, Karen Fokkens DeBeer’s mother, Jane, has been living at Roberta Place long-term care home, the facility in south-end Barrie that has been ravaged by COVID-19 in recent weeks, including nine resident deaths.
Ontario’s Vaccination Rollout Plan Facing Delays Amid Shortage of Pfizer Vaccines
Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout plan will slow down due to the announcement by Pfizer-BioNTech last week that it is temporarily delaying international shipments of the vaccines due to upgrading of its production facilities in Europe, Premier Doug Ford said on Jan. 19.
“The news from the federal government today that Canada won’t get any new Pfizer vaccines next week, and far fewer than expected in the coming weeks, it’s troubling. It’s a massive concern,” Ford said at a press conference.
“My message to the federal government is that nothing else matters right now. Every day we’re giving up less vaccines than we have the capacity to administer is a day we lose.”
BARRIE, ONT. Residents of Victoria Village Manor in Barrie are among the first in long-term care homes to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The pilot immunization program in Simcoe Muskoka started on Monday with 80-year-old Pat Sinclair becoming the region s first long-term care resident to be immunized. Sinclair, a former nurse, said she hopes being vaccinated gives her family a sense of relief. I m thrilled to be able to do this. I m hoping it gives me and my family that feeling of we re okay, we re going to be okay. We ll get through this, she said. This will be a game-changer for long-term care and congregate settings. It will level the playing field, said Bill Krever, Victoria Village president and CEO. As the number of COVID-19 cases increases in this region, the availability of this vaccine to our residents couldn t have come at a better time.
BARRIE, ONT. There are now 14 institutional outbreaks in Simcoe Muskoka following confirmation of a staff member case at a Bracebridge long-term care home. According to the District of Muskoka, a staff member working at the Pines Long-Term Care Home has tested positive for COVID-19. The staff member is said to be symptomatic as of Tuesday morning and in isolation at home. The area in the long-term care home where the staff member worked has been declared in outbreak status by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit. As an added measure, the district says all residents the infected staff member came into contact with have been placed on isolation precautions.