'These are the most vulnerable people': RN calls for seniors homes to take COVID-19 more seriously

RN critical of nursing home management People who run some long-term care facilities are not taking COVID-19 seriously enough. Kyle Moore reports.

SYDNEY, N.S. — As the COVID-19 death toll rises, long-term care facilities continue to be the hardest hit.

A registered nurse, whose identity CTV News is protecting because of fear he may lose his job, says it’s a scary time for both health-care workers and our most vulnerable.

"Nursing homes are the bottom of the chain," the nurse said. "These are the most vulnerable people; these are the people that should have the most protection."

The RN says a lack of communication, supplies, and not taking COVID-19 seriously is a recipe for disaster.

"It starts at the top," he said. "Management is not social distancing; management is giving a lot of push back on staff looking for additional masks.

In Halifax, 16 residents and 10 staff members have now tested positive for COVID-19 at Northwood.

Kate Kelly’s brother lives there.

She feels the province needs to monitor long-term care facilities and be more transparent with the public.

"I wonder when the last time a government official or Dr. Strang has been in a nursing home," she said. "I don't think they were ever monitored enough."

For its part, Northwood says it is in a position to conduct its own testing for residents and staff. Anyone with any symptoms is being tested, as well as close contacts, and Northwood says it is continually contact tracing and testing staff.

Elsewhere in Canada, a police investigation is underway into 31 deaths at a Quebec long-term care home.

Janice Keefe, an expert on aging who teaches at Mount Saint Vincent University, says, without the right protection, residents are most at risk.

"These people are working in very intimate situations, bathing, feeding, (and) toileting residents," said Keefe, the director of the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging at Mount Saint Vincent University.

"They can't practise social-distancing so unless we're giving them the right protection, they're not going to be so secure."

The province announced Monday that all front-line and home-care workers will get masks. But some wonder if that is enough.

"Staff are very unsure how to don and take off the provided surgical mask," the nurse said. "There's very high risk of contamination for this mask and we are expected to use one mask per shift, which could be eight to 12 hours."