Quality of care at Jodin Residences: ‘I am very concerned’

It is unacceptable and shamefulChantal Montreuil, local 5108 president of the Canadian Federation of Public Employees, said:SCFPCanadian Federation of Public Officials) who represents these workers.

The daughter of a Résidences resident Jodin claims she has noticed a stark lack of staff in the care units.

Monique Owlette, a retired nurse, says many attendees were lost last weekend when she went to the nursing home to visit her father and stepfather.

I was walking my father down the hall and saw my stepfather who was laying down trying to get some food off his plate, which was a little out of the way. This is where an attendant came in and apologized. “We are only two today.” […] She said, “We do what we can.”, says Mrs. Ouellette.

Her 93-year-old father, who had lived in Résidences Jodin for three years, had been eating cold food, and he regretted Monique Ouellette.

I’m very concerned, especially since I don’t see any possible solutions.

The former nurse refuses to blame the workers at Résidences Jodin.

Rather, it points to the inaction of the New Brunswick government.

I don’t see in the government an organized approach to ensuring that we have enough people to meet the needs., says Mrs. Ouellette.

Nursing homes are a priority for the government, which in its latest budget announced a $15 million annual increase for long-term care, the New Brunswick Department of Social Development said in an email on Wednesday.

A promised goal is to increase hours of care in New Brunswick homes to 3.3 hours per resident by April 2022.

or, Average direct care hours per resident is closer to 1.8 hours per day at Jodin Residences, instead of the currently required 2.9 hours, according to Chantal Montroy, president of Local 5108 of the SCFPCanadian Federation of Public Officials.

The entrance to the nursing home Les Résidences Jodin in Edmundston.

Photo: Radio Canada

According to the attendant Jason Saint Ong, vice president of this department, there were only 2 workers versus 30 residents last week, while he said it would take at least 5 to get the job done.

In response to the union’s complaints, the executive director of the New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes (AFSNBAFSNB), Michael Keating, he admitted that the shortage of workers affected these establishments across the province.

He added that there was a high level of absenteeism at Jodin Residences, but that the problem was mainly due to a lack of staff available for replacements.

From Bernard Lebel’s report