‘I just couldn’t take it anymore’: Why these long-term care workers left the industry

Wendy Harvie of Oshawa, Ont., shares why she quit her job at a long-term care facility.

Warning: Story contains graphic details

Wendy Harvie decided to quit after working for 14 years as a personal support worker at a private nursing home.

The 60-year-old woman from Oshawa, Ont., told CTVNews.ca this week that she endured years of violence at work, including “abuse” from residents, which got worse towards the end of her time working there.

“We were always having somebody up at night that was disruptive or aggressive or violent, like there was always somebody that was up that didn’t go to bed, that would be up screaming for no reason,” Harvie said in a video interview. “It wasn’t health care, it was hell-care. It really turned me right against going into any other institutional setting.”

Although she still doesn’t have job protections or benefits from currently freelancing for private clients, she says it is better for her well-being.

She says she and her coworkers suffered injuries from residents using canes, walkers, cups and hot drinks as weapons, adding she was punched, kicked and pinched. She described how residents dug their nails, usually full of feces, into her skin. They also scratched her, pulled her hair and spit on her. She says she also saw people wiping feces on walls, playing in them or eating them.

During her time there, she says workers like her didn’t feel safe or supported. Before she quit her job around 10 years ago, Harvie says she had taken about eight months of stress leave from work.

Harvie is among the rising number of people who have left the long-term care industry in Canada. The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) released a study last week that highlighted the challenge of meeting the demand for long-term care workers in the country.

These workers include nurse practitioners, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, occupational therapists and physiotherapists.

The study says most health-care job vacancies in 2023 were for staff who often work at long-term care facilities, including registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, licensed practical nurses and personal support workers. The CIHI says these vacancies have risen steadily since 2015 and “remain elevated” for many jobs.

Harvie says she was employed as a part-time worker during most of the 14 years she worked at the nursing home. She explained that she and most of her past colleagues didn’t have benefits since they weren’t considered full-time employees. Workers were often called in for extra shifts, having to work every other weekend or holidays, including Christmas, in part because of staff shortages, she said.

“I didn’t know that there was such a thing at the time, that it was anxiety,” she said of her experience, noting it was a backbreaking and thankless job with not much room for professional growth. “Over the years, I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

Ex-nurse says job was ‘very hard’

Althea Quinton from Orillia, Ont., says she was also burned out, and staff shortages got worse when she worked as a registered practical nurse in a unit with many dementia patients.

Quinton says she was fed up with what she described as mistreatment by management, sharing an example that led to her leaving. Management had decided last-minute that the floors in a hall needed polishing, but didn’t give the workers and residents enough advance notice. Staff had to take all residents off the floor during the polishing, which was tough for her and her colleagues, as well as the residents.

“I thought this is ridiculous,” said the 72-year-old woman, who now drives school vans part-time, in a video interview with CTVNews.ca on Tuesday. “There’s no concern for the residents. These people are used to routines, and suddenly you just throw a wrench right into it.

“It was confusing for the residents, and it was hard on the PSWs (personal service workers).”

Just like Harvie, Quinton left the long-term care industry, quitting in 2015 after working at a private nursing home for 15 years, though in Quinton’s case she had a full-time permanent job.

“I thought I can’t do this anymore,” she said, noting she retired in 2019 just before the pandemic.

Quinton says she first started as a PSW, a job she enjoyed, then went back to school to become a nurse.

According to Quinton, the reality is staff at long-term care facilities have “very hard” jobs that involve “a lot of work,” with people getting injured and having sore backs for instance.

She also described how many residents didn’t want to have a bath and sometimes they would kick and scream, but she and her colleagues would still need to do their jobs.

Quinton left the long-term care industry to work for another company doing home care, a job that required her to visit patients in their homes to take care of their wounds, change diapers and give them needles.

While Quinton and Harvie gave up working in the long-term care industry, both said they found meaning in helping people, particularly the elderly.

Harvie said she cares about people and loves her job as a personal support worker, even if she is self-employed now.