Anger and frustration were prevalent themes as family members of those living in the Bethany Care Centre Cochrane and workers from the centre gathered more than 100-strong to protest the latest round of cuts to care and services at Bethany Care May 5.
In total, 8.5 full-time equivalent licensed practitioner nurses (LPNs), health-care aids and recreational assistants have had their positions made redundant (nine health-care aids and four LPNs, with more having their hours cut).
But redundant they are not, said the crowd outside the Bethany Centre. Especially for the dementia ward, which has seen their staffing go from three down to two for the 26 residents on lockdown.
“There are so many things that are going wrong where my hubby is now,” said 86-year-old Mavis, who did not want to give her last name. “Now we’re down to two for all those residents and the workers will be worn out at this rate.”
Safety for staff and residents has been called into question and with far too little staff, health-care aid Julie Handrahan said there’s no way they can guarantee peace of mind.
“I know staff that go home sore every day, so there’s an increased risk of injury and if the staff aren’t healthy, there’s an increased chance that residents will be at risk of injury,” said Handrahan. “Unfortunately with the cuts we’ve incurred, it’s twice as much work; it’s not fair to residents.
“We do our best every day and when I go home I feel I’ve given 110 per cent, but 110 per cent just isn’t good enough.”
Those in the crowd believed everyone deserves to be safe at work and in their place of residence, but for many, the issue goes further than hiring more staff or figuring out a better system.
For many, it came down to putting Alison Redford in a nurse’s uniform for an eight-hour shift to see what these cuts mean to locals.
“We’d like to see Mrs. Redford down here for a full eight-hour shift and then let her tell us why these cuts are important,” said Mavis.
“My hubby has two black eyes because he tried to walk himself to the washroom alone and down he went. There isn’t enough staff as it is to look after them all.”
Mavis’ husband served in the British Military and she said, even though he has dementia, his pride is still intact and she’d like to see it kept that way.
The cuts are no less significant than other cutbacks and although a warning was given two years prior to the March 1 cuts, there still hasn’t been a workable plan in place to relieve the stress.
These cuts might be a growing trend if the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta keeps with the road they’re going down, said Peter Helfrich, member for the Banff-Cochrane Liberal Party.
“We’re frustrated with what’s going on in government right now. This protest is the very least we can all do to show our support for the workers and residents,” said Helfrich. “Not only do seniors deserve proper care, but it’s essential to ease the stress on emergency rooms and hospitals
“Ron Casey as a representative of the government has broke one promise after another. Ron ran on a platform of ‘well, it’s not that bad, vote for us.’ Well it is that bad and it’s only getting worse as these cuts carry on.”
