By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
DUNNVILLE—Jennifer Jacob, administrator of Grandview Lodge, believes that all 160 employees, not just the nursing department that makes up 80% of the staff at the facility, deserve to be celebrated for their hard work and determination over the last year.
Grandview will celebrate Nursing Week with games, refreshments, and prizes for staff donated by local businesses. Jacob marked the occasion by providing us with an update on how life inside the facility has been lately.
“We’ve been fortunate that we’ve not been significantly impacted by the third wave. We did have an outbreak, but there was no transmission within the home and that speaks to the knowledge and skill of the frontline staff in infection prevention and control practices and their ability to implement them properly to keep the staff, themselves, and the residents safe,” said Jacob.
She described how acutely aware her staff is of what is happening in the community around them, and how they have stepped up their vigilance in their personal lives, which has allowed Grandview to sidestep the more catastrophic results seen in other long-term care (LTC) homes around the province over the last year.
“I think the staff have been very aware of the impact some of the restrictions throughout the pandemic have had on the residents,” said Jacob. “They also recognize that residents need a little more social time with them. They’re willing to talk with them about fears, about missing their family…. It’s part of the nursing care model of a resident-centred care approach. We look at the residents holistically, so that the nursing department isn’t just responsible for physical or medical care…. That is the philosophy of care at Grandview Lodge.”
Retired nurse Suzanne Wilkins is an essential caregiver for her friend Brenda, an Alzheimer’s patient living at Grandview. She spoke about the effort displayed by Grandview staff to help her in the early days of the pandemic: “I knew my ability to communicate with her via the phone and even window visits would be challenging. However, the recreational therapist, Gail, and other staff made every effort to do video calls with me when Brenda was having a good day and was more attentive. One evening as a staff member was getting Brenda ready for bed, I received an unexpected but much welcomed video call. Brenda was able to see me, and she recognized me. That was a good day.”
Dealing with the effects of Alzheimer’s disease is hard on a good day, and Wilkins initially worried her friend would quickly degrade in isolation, but through the dedicated help of the team at Grandview this has not happened.
Wilkins explained, “I have always been impressed by and grateful for the compassionate care that Brenda has received since moving to Grandview Lodge. She does not remember names, however, she has always called the people she feels most comfortable with ‘Mama’. She still does. This person could be a PSW, someone who serves her a meal or does her laundry, or a member of the cleaning and maintenance staff.”
She continued, “During this pandemic, when there have been and continue to be so many restrictions, staff have put on several special events. Last summer it was a cart made up to look like an ice cream truck that visited every resident and at Christmas the garden was lit up like a holiday theme park. These are just two examples of many. Today when I visited, I saw seedling plants in the sunny window in the nurse’s station ready to be planted outside when it’s warm enough.”
Jacob is more than aware of the impacts of dealing with COVID within the LTC community at large: “There’s a perception out there that ‘it’s part of the job’ to deal with sick people and the death and dying process, and it is part of the job, it’s just been ramped up on a scale that no one is used to dealing with. Often there’s time to debrief, to rebound, and we just haven’t seen that within the sector.”
“Fortunately, we have not been exposed to that at Grandview Lodge, but I think the fear of that and the fear of that within the community, the fear of not having access to health care systems because they’re overwhelmed all plays a part on the staff,” continued Jacob.
Grandview Lodge’s approach to managing the pandemic has been a work in progress. At the early onset of the virus, the facility took a risk-averse approach, centred on protection above all else, but as time wore on, staff began to see the toll the restrictions were having on the residents. “We started to turn our minds towards how do we mitigate the risk and bring back social activity,” said Jacob. “Our goal would be to get as many staff on board for vaccination as possible and I think we’re getting there. We’re providing more education, the more information that comes out, the more we’re able to dispel misinformation.”
Wilkins, for one, is excited about what comes next: “I was fortunate to receive my second vaccine last week, and I have seen that the government may then allow me to give my friend a hug 14 days after this. It is very strange to say that this will be a momentous occasion. I’m just grateful that my sweet friend is still alive, when so many others aren’t.”
