The union representing a long-term care home in Windsor, Ont. says its staff were provided inadequate personal protective equipment, such as masks, while the home is experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak.
Unifor, the union representing staff at Fairfield Park long-term care home, said the staff were not provided medical-grade N95 masks, and the mistake was only rectified when the union said it discovered the issue.
The Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit said there are 87 total cases confirmed at Fairfield Park.
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“The pandemic has exposed the chronic and dangerous situations in our nursing homes,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President, in a statement on Thursday. “Long term care staff are exhausted.
“They trust that the employer will have proper personal protective equipment to keep them safe.”
The union wrote the provincial government mandates all employees at long-term care homes must be provided with, at minimum, medical masks while working.
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“Fairfield Park is in a terrible outbreak, and this owner put their own workers at risk while the virus spread through the building infecting residents and staff,” said Tullio DiPonti, President of Unifor Local 2458, calling for Premier Ford to revoke the homes’ license.
Unifor provided Global News with two pictures. One photo pictured a set of masks that were provided which indicated, “not for medical purposes” on a label. The other photo was of the box the masks arrived in, which read “non-medical.”
The masks that were delivered to the home
Unifor
The box the masks were delivered in to the home
Unifor
However a spokesperson from Chatham-Ken Public Health said Dr. David Colby, the region’s medical officer of health and Lori Marshall, president and CEO of Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) confirmed at a press conference Thursday morning they were satisfied with the type of masks being used at the home.
The spokesperson said CKHA has staff deployed to Fairfield to support the home and “reported that the same equipment they use in hospital is being used at the home at the moment.”
“CKHA was provided an infectious control staff member to support the home as well,” the spokesperson continued.
According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,627 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario since the beginning of the pandemic. Eleven virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.
There are 206 current outbreaks across homes in the province, and the ministry also indicated there are currently 701 active cases among long-term care residents and 758 active cases among staff.
Global News reached out to Fairfield Park but did not hear back by time of publication.