‘Everyone here is in crisis mode’

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This article was published 20/03/2024 (576 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two weeks after more than 150 health workers went on strike, residents say care at Ten Ten Sinclair facilities is inadequate and there has been almost no communication from the non-profit organization.

Ten Ten Sinclair Housing Inc. supports approximately 100 people with physical disabilities and other challenges at its main facility in Garden City and six others elsewhere in Winnipeg.

Nolan Smith said he’s been helped by a dozen different aides since the strike began March 6.

“I’ve got people basically walking in off the street, and they’re very uncomfortable with the human anatomy,” he said. “Everyone needs a job, but this job is not for everyone.”

Most of the striking workers are health-care aides represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees of Manitoba who’ve been without a contract for four years.

Smith moved into Ten Ten’s Fokus I building on Assiniboine Avenue after a 2018 accident left him a quadriplegic. He relies on attendants to be turned during the night to help prevent bedsores and, among other things, to monitor his catheter; if it gets twisted and a staff member isn’t there in time, he could be sent into autonomic dysreflexia — an abnormal overreaction of the involuntary nervous system — which could trigger a heart attack.

“I have strangers coming in the middle of the night… to do my routines and I have to talk them through it,” he said. “It’s just become a revolving door.”

“I have strangers coming in the middle of the night… to do my routines and I have to talk them through it”–Nolan Smith

CUPE President Gina McKay said wages for workers at the facilities have increased by 1.75 per cent since 2016, while the cost of living has increased by 25 per cent. The median hourly wage of employees at Ten Ten Sinclair Inc. is between $15 and $18, she said.

Smith has been without laundry services and proper cleaning of his suite since the work stoppage began. And without any notice about if, or when, he’ll receive either or both, he’s left waiting around.

“And that kind of determines the trajectory of my day,” he said.

Lori Ross, a tenant of Fokus II on Kennedy Street, said the coming and going of aides is affecting tenants emotionally, as some get attached to their caregivers.

“(A tenant) was in tears,” she said. “Everyone is doing the best they can and then they get told that the people who finally learned your routines are being pulled out.

“Everyone is doing the best they can and then they get told that the people who finally learned your routines are being pulled out”–Lori Ross

“Everyone here is in crisis mode.”

Ross had polio and uses a wheelchair and a back brace for support. She has lived at Fokus II for 40 years and has never experienced a strike before.

The attendant who arrived help Ross Tuesday had never assisted the 66-year-old before. While the aide succeeded in securing the brace, it was disheartening for Ross to know she would likely have to teach a new worker how to do it all over again the next day.

“It’s not how to type a letter or change a tire,” she said. “We’re talking about people meeting you for the first time and you’re stark naked.”

“It’s not how to type a letter or change a tire. We’re talking about people meeting you for the first time and you’re stark naked.”–Lori Ross

Ross and Smith said three or four different agencies have been involved in sending replacement workers to the facilities, but have unexpectedly pulled them out with no explanation.

A letter obtained by the Free Press that was sent to tenants a week ago said efforts to minimize care disruptions were underway, but some residents haven’t heard anything from leaders at the non-profit since then.

“We know that the ongoing strike has directly impacted your daily routines and recognize that this is a concerning and frustrating situation for you and your loved ones,” the letter, signed by executive director Debbie Van Ettinger, said.

“Our priority at all times is to ensure a safe continuity of attendant care for all tenants and as a result of the current circumstances, some changes to daily routines and schedules are necessary to make that possible.”

Smith said the lack of communication is par for the course between management and tenants. A previous “independent living” philosophy touted the creation of steering committees within each of the facilities that would send delegates to monthly meetings where concerns from residents would be discussed.

Those meetings never happened, and now the organization’s culture has become “top-down management decisions,” he said.

Multiple requests for comment sent to Van Ettinger have gone unanswered.

McKay said workers will continue to picket until a fair deal between the union and the employer is reached.

“These workers could be working — they want to be working — but they want (a) fair deal,” she said.

Smith and Ross said they are supportive of workers striking for fair wages, but added some tenants are at the end of their rope.

Ross reached hers earlier this week when attending workers initially refused to transfer her from bed to her motorized wheelchair, declaring the act “unsafe” due to her weight.

She weighs 50 pounds.

“Well, it’s not very safe for me to lay awake all night worrying about whether the staff coming in will be able to do my transfers or my care,” she said.

Smith’s mother is staying with him during the strike, but he knows others don’t have that option.

“With the support of my mom and friends, I’m managing,” he said. “It’s almost too much to bear to think about (tenants) who struggle with basic communication.”

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca