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<\/p>\n\u201cTaco Bell could not be open more than 365 days in a row without being inspected,\u201d Jorgenson said.<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\u201cSo why do we allow seniors homes, or a personal care home that is caring for very, very vulnerable people, to stay open four times longer without an inspection?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anita Bouvier, who previously owned three personal care homes in Saskatoon, agreed with Jorgenson that compliance with care standards is ultimately the responsibility of care home owners.<\/p>\n
But Bouvier held that frequent government inspections are necessary because with such high demand for spots in these homes, owners aren\u2019t, \u201calways looking for improvements and betterment\u201d when their \u201cbeds are being filled,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For Jorgenson, what makes the infrequency of inspections worse, though, is the lack of training given to care providers in the facilities, leaving some seniors with \u201cpoor quality of care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inadequate training for workers<\/p>\n
Part of the rise in demand for personal care home spots, according to Bouvier, is thanks to shortages in long-term care beds and consequently the stricter admission criteria for those entering long-term care.<\/p>\n
She said it\u2019s left seniors with higher and more complex needs finding spots in private, personal care homes which aren\u2019t designed for the level of care they require.<\/p>\n
A consequence of welcoming in those with greater medical needs is that provincial regulations surrounding training haven\u2019t kept pace with reality, according to Bouvier.<\/p>\n
Currently, she said staff in personal care home facilities need to have a certificate in food safety, basic first aid, and a personal care worker course that can either be done online or for 16 hours in person.<\/p>\n
The provincial government also added that a course in medication assistance is also required for those helping with medications.<\/p>\n
For Bouvier, these standards don\u2019t reflect the complexity of care provided in these homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need hands-on training to provide health care, no different than nursing,\u201d she said, adding how people wouldn\u2019t want to get looked after by someone who\u2019s only had online training.<\/p>\n
Bouvier said even workers agree that more training is needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe students that I have taught recently have said, \u2018this is nowhere near adequate. I do not feel prepared. You know, this needs to be longer,\u2019\u201d she said, adding how the information included in courses also needs to be updated to reflect what workers are actually going to do.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, it leaves people who\u2019ve just done an online course having to care \u201cfor somebody that has a bed sore or a catheter,\u201d Jorgenson said.<\/p>\n
While he admitted the fix is not to make training so \u201conerous\u201d that people won\u2019t do it, Jorgenson said it\u2019s about finding the balance of making it accessible while also ensuring people are safe.<\/p>\n
For Bouvier, the sweet spot would be a four-week course for staff at the very least.<\/p>\n
Government says homes are inspected<\/p>\n
In an emailed response the provincial government wrote that every personal care home in Saskatchewan has been inspected in the last two years and while inspections \u201coccur typically on an annual basis\u201d they \u201cmay occur every two years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The difference in frequency, according to the government, has to do with \u201cthe number and type of infractions noted during an inspection.\u201d<\/p>\n
The response also highlighted how the personal care worker course includes information on topics like understanding a resident\u2019s care needs and care plans, and specialized care training is documented in the patient\u2019s records.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegistered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Social Workers, and Continuing Care Assistants,\u201d work in some personal care homes, according to the government, and homes with 31 beds or more are required to have a nurse on staff.<\/p>\n
by Marija Robinson, CKOM News Staff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cTaco Bell could not be open more than 365 days in a row without being inspected,\u201d Jorgenson said.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-349801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}