'We're not protected, we have no sick pay': Manitoba home-care workers want universal access to PPE

The union representing hundreds of Manitoba home-care workers is calling on the province to ensure they have the same access to personal protective equipment as other front-line health-care workers.

On Thursday, chief provincial nursing officer Lanette Siragusa said the province was mandating the use of surgical masks, gowns and gloves for health-care workers when dealing with "all patients, all the time."

But one day after that announcement, the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union said the new measures, put in place to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, do not appear to cover many of their members.

"Home-care workers want to be part of the solution," the union wrote in a statement. "Each and every day they care for elderly or vulnerable Manitobans and they want to ensure they protect the health and well-being of their clients and themselves."

Several health-care workers tested positive for the illness this week, sparking the change in protocol which applied to "health-care workers working in patient care roles at facilities, including at hospitals, long-term care facilities, health centres, nursing stations, Access Centres and COVID-19 testing locations," according to a news release.

A Winnipeg home care worker told CBC News that she and her coworkers are each given one set of protective equipment at the start of their shift.

"Some people see between 20 and 30 clients a day, so chances are you're going to need more than one," the home care worker told CBC News, who is not identifying her because she fears she could be disciplined for speaking out.

If workers need more, they have to go to an office to pick it up, which can be difficult to arrange on evenings or weekends, she added.

"I love my clients, I love my job, but I find it really hard to handle this disrespect of our bosses, our resource co-ordinators. And I think that's speaking for all of my co-workers."

'All of that equipment that we can't get'

Along with the expanded allowance of PPE, public health officials ordered screening procedures be put in place for all health-care facilities.

When home-care workers arrive for their shift, they're screened by people at an office who are wearing PPE, said the woman.

"All the office personnel are fully donned in all of that equipment that we can't get. The ones who work in the office have it all," she said.

A spokesperson for Manitoba Shared Health confirmed the directive regarding personal protective equipment announced Thursday was for "facility-based" staff, which does not include home care.

Weeks ago, however, home-care workers were provided a list of questions they must ask before entering a patient's home, to assess the possible risk of contracting COVID-19.

"If [the answer is] yes to any of the screening criteria … the health-care worker must don droplet/contact PPE if service visit is necessary," the Shared Health document says, and that also applies if anyone in the home in general is self-isolating for COVID-19.

In those situations, the home-care worker would have the PPE access they need, said the Shared Health spokesperson.

As for universal PPE access, the spokesperson said he could not speculate and that CBC News would have to question Lanette Siragusa, Manitoba's chief nursing officer.

'Suck it up and work, or don't get paid'

Another Winnipeg home care worker, also speaking on condition of anonymity fearing disciplinary action for speaking publicly, said she and her colleagues are "forced to make tough decisions based on finances."

"We are scared. We're not protected, we have no sick pay," she said. "It's either suck it up and work, or don't get paid. So that's really putting us and clients in not a very good situation."

She said the workers don't feel supported, that "they're being sent into danger with no recourse for sick pay."

"You feel like you have a cough and a runny nose, but you know that if you take time off, they may tell you to not work for 14 days and that's 14 days with zero pay. Nothing." 

The first home care worker also raised a similar issue, except she and her colleagues would be forced to use vacation pay.

"The lack of respect for us is terrible," she said. "The morale for all of us is so low. It was low before the pandemic. And now, it's just so obvious — it's awful.

"I love my job, love my clients but I could easily quit, just from the way we're treated."