Families say they were left in the dark on how many positive cases there were at the St. Albert Retirement Residence.
The Gazette spoke to five people who have loved ones at the retirement home after Alberta Health confirmed there were at least 33 active cases of COVID-19 there on Oct. 23. Four of them said they were not aware of the high case numbers until the Gazette published an article.
Bruce Lillie, regional marketing director for All Seniors Care Living Centres, previously told the Gazette they have been in "constant contact" with families providing updates.
The 183-suite retirement residence has independent, assisted living and ’memory care’ suites for residents with cognitive conditions.
As of Oct. 22, there were 180 active cases and 1,281 recovered cases at continuing care facilities in Alberta. One hundred seventy-nine residents of these facilities have died.
Conflicting information
Jason Stobbe lives in Ontario but his parents are in assisted living suites at the St. Albert retirement home.
Since the pandemic started, he said he has not received one update from All Seniors Care Living Centres – nothing to update him on procedures being taken, or if there was a positive case of COVID-19. After hearing from his brother there were 11 positive cases on Monday night, he called the retirement home the next day.
“I called again Tuesday afternoon and a girl answered the phone. It sounded like she was ready to cry – she could barely talk, but she said, ‘I’ll get your email, and then I’ll send you updates all the time,'” Stobbe said.
Then Stobbe called his 81-year old mom to see how she was doing.
“She said, ‘We’re fine, but the rest of the building isn’t.’ She said, ‘I heard there were 15 cases.’ And I said, ‘Well, I was told 11,’” he said.
“They don’t tell me (how many cases there are). I asked that, and they just say that there are people in here that have it, some of them aren’t doing well. No one has ever offered to tell me the numbers, even though I’ve asked for the numbers.”
For the last week, he has called his parents every day to check in to see how they’re doing. His mother is doing okay, he said, but his father has dementia so it’s difficult for him to grasp what’s going on.
With how quickly case numbers seem to be rising, Stobbe said he is “extremely concerned” for his parents’ wellbeing.
“We were at 11 cases on Monday and it grew to 33 in the space of five days. It just goes to show you how incredibly viral this disease is,” he said. “I do not think the administration at the facility is up to the job of taking care of this. I think they need help.”
The confusion and lack of clarity around the outbreak was echoed by other families with loved ones at the St. Albert senior home.
St. Albert resident Rob Clarke’s 89-year old father moved into the retirement home’s independent living suites in January. He said the facility does a “great job” taking care of its residents, and they’ve been “ahead of the curve” following Alberta Health guidelines.
But Clarke said he was surprised to hear of the numbers through the Gazette’s article.
“Generally they’re pretty good, and I know they have their hands full. But the only suggestion I would offer for improvement is more timely communication to the families of the residents,” he said.
He said he spoke with his father Saturday morning about news of the outbreak, about being careful and taking precautions. Clarke said his father has gotten a COVID-19 test every week for the last month. Besides being bored, he said his father is doing fine, and he feels confident the facility will keep his father safe.
“This thing will run its course and I'm hoping it'll be a couple of weeks at worst. That’s my concern, is that he just stays healthy.”
St. Albert resident Wendy Ott's 94-year old mother is living in the memory care ward at the retirement home. She said she is satisfied with the retirement home's communication around the positive cases so far.
“There was only one time when my sister phoned and left a message and they didn’t get back to us until the next day,” Ott said. “I know there are people who have concerns and they've had bad experiences, which is unfortunate, but that that hasn't been the case with us.”
Ott’s mother tested negative for COVID-19 last week and was tested again recently, she said. While the news of the outbreak was difficult to hear, she spoke highly of the care provided for her mother at the retirement home.
“On Friday night, I just drove over there and I sat in the parking lot. I just looked at her window and cried. So it’s hard, you know, it’s hard,” Ott said, emotion swelling in her voice.
“All I can say is I’m just so impressed over the three years she’s been there. The care has been so good, and that’s the only thing that’s keeping me from having anxiety."
'It's horrifying'
Kylah Lefebvre’s 58-year-old mother has dementia and has lived in one of the home’s memory care suites for the last four years. She said she was shocked to hear the case numbers had gotten so high.
“When I saw that post ... I was shocked,” Lefebvre said.
Lefebvre said her family received an email on Oct. 16 from the retirement home stating there were four positive cases of COVID-19 involving two staff and two residents. Five days later on Oct. 21, another email said that number had grown to 14 positive cases involving 10 residents and four staff.
On Friday, Lefebvre said she found out about the 33 positive cases from the Gazette’s article.
“I left a message yesterday and still haven't heard anything. And my sister emailed, and nothing,” she said. “They keep saying they'll call me back the next day, or they'll call me back right away. And I'm still calling. I still haven't heard anything.”
Another St. Albert resident told the Gazette she did not know about the 33 active cases until reading the article online. Her 85-year-old father, who has dementia, lives in one of the memory care suites in the retirement home. The Gazette agreed to keep her identity confidential due to privacy concerns.
“I went into panic mode because, why aren’t they telling us? Maybe my dad wasn’t one of the sick ones, but I still need to know because he can’t communicate properly,” she said.
“Our family member might not be sick right now, (but) I still need to know what's going on in the building. It’s very frustrating and very scary.”
This isn’t the first time she’s been unsuccessful trying to get information from the retirement home around COVID-19, she said. She started emailing the retirement home back in April asking for regular updates.
“I started on April 13 requesting weekly, every two weeks, or even a monthly update of what their protocols are in that building. If I did get a response, it was a link to what was on the government webpage,” she said.
“They never told me directly, what they're doing with protocols or what their plans are if COVID-19 ever gets into the building. I've been asking this since April, and as of today, I still don't know what their protocols are with all these COVID-19 cases now.”
Along with dementia, her father has several other medical conditions that put him at high risk of dying if he contracts COVID-19. She said her father wasn’t feeling well earlier in the week, and is currently awaiting COVID-19 test results.
She is still waiting to hear back from the people entrusted with his care.
“You hear about all these cases in senior homes and long term care homes, and you hear about all the deaths ... so my anxiety is very top level right now,” she said. “It’s horrifying. I’m feeling so anxious, not knowing.”
The Gazette has reached out to All Seniors Care Living Centres for comment.
