HALIFAX — The federal government has approved a request to help Nova Scotia long-term care homes that have been hit hard by support staff shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Barbara Adams, the minister responsible for long-term care, confirmed the federal help following a cabinet meeting Thursday.
Adams told reporters two 10-person teams will be made available through the Canadian Red Cross to work in as many as 14 long-term homes in the province that require the most assistance. She said the teams will be available seven days a week until the end of March.
The minister said the help is needed because many long-term care homes are missing between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of their staff.
"They (workers) haven't had vacations, they're being mandated to work overtime almost on a weekly if not biweekly basis," Adams said, adding that the support teams will perform tasks such as cleaning the homes and helping to feed residents.
Adams said the long-term sector is short hundreds of workers. In response, the provincial government on Wednesday announced immediate pay raises for continuing care assistants in an attempt to recruit more workers.
"We are in the downward spiral of the Omicron spike, so we're hoping that by the time March 31 comes that we will have improved the recruitment of continuing care assistants and other staff to this sector," she said.
The province announced that $65 million would be made available for wage increases, which would raise the top annual salary for a continuing care assistant to $48,419 — an annual increase of close to $9,000.
Premier Tim Houston has said the wage increase is part of the government's attempt to find ways to increase capacity across the health system. Bed occupancy in hospitals is currently over 105 per cent despite a gradual downturn in overall COVID-19 cases.
The pressure on the system has resulted in backlogs of many non-essential surgeries and of cancer care treatments and screenings.
Health Minister Michelle Thompson said Thursday that a number of options are under consideration to help clear the backlog, including extending operating room hours.
"I think we need to wait for the system to decompress a little bit in terms of the high demand we are seeing," Thompson said. "We are looking at the capacity we have and what our ability is to scale up as soon as we are able."
Meanwhile, health officials reported one new death related to COVID-19 Thursday — a woman in her 80s died in the Halifax area.
About 90 people were in hospital due to the disease, including 11 patients in intensive care. The Health Department on Thursday said there were 10 new hospital admissions and eight patients discharged since its last report. Another 272 patients who have COVID-19 were either admitted for other reasons or have contracted the disease in hospital.
The province also identified an additional 365 new lab-confirmed COVID-19 infections.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 10, 2022.
Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press
