Susan Beland’s oxygen tank is her lifeline. Without it, she struggles to breathe.
Beland is 70 and suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition marked by lung function that deteriorates over time.
“It ties me to an oxygen canister that needs to be changed two or three times a day,” she said.
Beland is also a 12-year resident of London’s Mount Hope Centre for Long Term Care, a 394-bed care home operated by St. Joseph’s Health Care.
There are 42 residents on her floor and many days only five personal support workers to help them with daily tasks, everything from getting dressed to using the toilet.
Despite her condition Beland, who uses a wheelchair, can handle many of those daily tasks herself. What she really needs, but said she often doesn’t get without raising a fuss, is a staff member to change her oxygen tank when it runs low or empties.
When staffing is tight, Beland said she has to pester staff for help. Even when she rings her room’s call bell “until she’s blue in the face” she can often wait more than an hour with an empty tank.
Beland said when there’s seven PSWs working on her floor, she generally doesn’t wait to have her oxygen tank changed. However, she said there’s often staff shortages due to holidays or sick calls. The difference between seven and five PSWs on a floor has an immediate effect on her quality of life and that of her neighbours.
“With only five people on the floor, it’s impossible for them to care for everybody,” said Beland. “Somebody always falls through the cracks.”
Beland doesn’t like to complain but reached out to CBC News after her efforts to raise concerns with Mount Hope management didn’t improve the level of care on her floor.
Also, she’s speaking out because she said many of her neighbours have varying levels of cognitive impairment. One in particular she worries about is not aware when her oxygen tank is low or empty. Beland said she often finds her neighbour walking around with an empty tank.
“I can be an advocate for myself, and I’m good at it,” said Beland. “But a lot of the other people in here can’t do the same.”
Introduced in 2021, Ontario’s Fixing Long Term Care Act aimed to fix problems in care homes that came to light during the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislation increased inspections and allowed the province to apply penalties and appoint an administrator to take over problematic care homes.
Rules set for hours of care
Ontario care homes are now required in legislation to provide an average of three hours and 42 minutes of direct care per resident.
In a statement to CBC News, St. Joseph’s Health Care said it has received no formal complaints about staffing levels at Mount Hope this year.
Also, it says between April and July 2025, residents at Mount Hope received an average of four hours and five minutes of direct care each day, exceeding the provincially legislated target.
“Staffing levels are impacted primarily by unexpected absences such as staff calling in sick,” a St. Joseph’s spokesperson said in a statement to CBC News. “When this occurs, every effort is made to replace shifts as quickly as possible. We also maintain a float pool of staff who can be deployed to cover unexpected absences.”
The statement also encourages residents with concerns to raise them with management.
St. Joseph’s Mount Hope Centre for Long Term care is a 394 bed care home in north London. (Andrew Lupton/CBC)
Jane Meadus, a staff lawyer and institutional advocate at the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, said the legislated staffing levels are a province-wide average that can still leave residents short on care.
“You can have some homes providing a lot more care and some providing a lot less care,” she said. “As long as the provincial average gets met, that’s all that has to happen. It’s not per home.”
Meadus would prefer that averages in available hours be set for each care home.
“The home is expected to have enough staff to meet everyone’s needs,” said Meadus. “Often when someone doesn’t show up, they don’t backfill. That’s a complaint we hear a lot.”
Firm staffing ratios needed, PSW group says
Ontario Personal Support Worker’s Association CEO Miranda Romanowicz would like to see requirements for firm staff-to-resident ratios, not a province-wide average of staffing hours.
“When you don’t have a guaranteed amount of PSWs that have to be on the floor to provide that care, the employee can still decide how many residents a PSW can handle.”
Romanowicz also said she’d like to see PSWs become more directly involved in shaping residents’ care plan, something she said doesn’t typically happen.