Senior soaked in urine after home-care cancellations

Donna Buchanan spent hours in a bed soaked with her own urine earlier this month after home-care nurses failed to show up for weekend shifts.

Buchanan, 63, has cerebral palsy, which manifests with violent, jerky movements. Because she can’t get out of bed on her own, she relies on nurses to insert a urinary catheter in the morning and remove it in the evening.

She said only the evening nurse came on Aug. 2 and Aug 3, leaving her without a catheter for hours both days. The urine soaked through her clothing, an underlying pad, and finally her sheets and blankets. Because of her spastic CP, a catheter can’t be left inserted all day because it would fall out, Buchanan said.

“I’ve got a rash, which was clearing up, but now it’s worse because I was lying in urine for hours. It’s a guess each day whether I will get a nurse or not,” she said.

“They say, ‘We hear your frustration.’ I just don’t understand why they just cancel. They’ve said before they think I have someone with me all day, but I don’t. I need the home-care nurse.”

Buchanan, who has received home care for decades, said the service was stable for years but has become markedly worse since a centralized scheduling system was put in place by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority in March. There have been other instances of nursing cancellations, which she keeps track of in a book home-care workers fill out when they are there.

Several home-care workers contacted the Free Press last month to say they were overwhelmed and burnt out because of heavy caseloads that resulted from the scheduling-system change.

During a three-day period, Friday through Sunday, more than 2,100 home-care visits by nurses and health-care aides were cancelled with no notice, representing about one-quarter of the total during that time. More than 8,660 visits were also at risk of being unassigned on those three days.

A 79-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease and his 72-year-old wife came forward last week saying they had lost their home care for five weeks after moving to a more accessible home a 10-minute drive away. Their home care was restored by Manitoba’s health minister after they brought their complaints to the Free Press.

David Kron, executive director of the Cerebral Palsy Association of Manitoba, said Buchanan requires home care for her daily needs.

“It’s just so important for home care to be a reliable service,” Kron said.

“She (Buchanan) doesn’t have family backup, so it has to be reliable. Peoples’ lives depend on it.”

A spokesperson for Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the government stated last month it has brought in experts to look at the home-care system and recommend changes.

“What happened to Ms. Buchanan, and too many patients like her, is unacceptable,” the spokesperson said.

“Her experience, and the experiences of others, has prompted us to carefully review of internal processes at the WRHA home-care office. We are actively engaging with home-care staff to understand their experiences and evaluating the online scheduling systems.

“Our goal is clear: to address cancellations that deprive patients of the care and dignity they deserve, while ensuring front-line staff have the support and resources needed to provide exceptional care.”

Buchanan said that is all she is looking for.

“Right now, it seems like they are saving money, but it is truly coming off of the care of people,” she said. “Or, they are spending a lot of money on a lot of nothing at times.

“All I know is I’ve had them for years, and I’ve never seen it this bad.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca