‘The most important words’: SHA apologizes over Parkside report

In total, 39 people died from COVID-19 during the outbreak at Parkside Extendicare. Thursday’s Ombudsman report revealed a laundry list of problems that allowed the outbreak to get out of hand, some in which the Sask. Health Authority (SHA) were implicated.

Now, the health authority is apologizing.

“I think that it can’t be overstated that this is a tragedy and, as the health authority, it’s very sad, it’s very unfortunate that this occurred.  And our condolences are extended to the families of those who lost a loved one in this outbreak,” said Dr. Kevin Wasko, physician executive for Integrated Rural Health, and acting Chief Operating Officer for the SHA.

“Those are the most important words that, I think, need to be said, is that we’re sorry and we don’t want to see this happen again.”

Wasko said it’s terrible that people lost their lives and their families have been grieving.

“To say sorry doesn’t erase that, but I am sorry that that’s happened and we could have done things better.”

Wasko said the report was sad and impactful. He said it was difficult to read about what people were dealing with there, especially the workers.

One of the takeaways for many people was the fact that many employees came to work while sick – one person worked with symptoms for eight days and didn’t get a COVID-19 test until later.

Wasko thinks, at that time, it was really difficult for some to realize how different the virus can be in each individual case.

“It can present as very minor in terms of symptoms … I think that staff know a lot more now than they may have known then about how serious it can get and how, even the mildest of symptoms, need to be taken seriously,” Wasko explained.

The authority was mentioned specifically at a few points in the report. One was the fact that, for months, neither Extendicare, nor the SHA officials it was working with, realized the public masking order applied to residents in the facility.

“Looking back on it now it seems like that should have been a very straightforward initiative. What is complicated about long-term care is these are private homes of the people living there, and there was clarity that needed to be sought on ‘What does it mean for masking in public places when these are the places where people live?,’” Wasko said.

He said these were exceptional circumstances that people were working and living under and the masking order may not have risen to the top of people’s minds.

There was also some confusion at the home directly involving the SHA when it came to staffing. The authority had reached a deal with unions to create a labour pool to draw on, but what wasn’t understood at first was Extendicare, as an independent affiliate, couldn’t access that.

Wasko said that is something the authority can learn from for the future when creating such agreements.

The SHA is accepting all the Ombudman’s recommendations and has actually already completed one – it no longer puts four residents into one room in long-term care.

“I think that that’s a good move that probably should have happened long ago, well before COVID was ever on the scene,” said Wasko.

What happened at Parkside could end up being a tragic object lesson to spur change in the entire long-term care sector. Wasko said it’s something that should be looked at, not just in Saskatchewan, but nationally.

He pointed out there is currently a push for a set of national care standards in long-term care, and he thinks that would be helpful so they known everyone is collectively working to a standard.

Saskatchewan is already making changes. Wasko pointed out that, when the authority renews homes or builds new homes, there’s an effort it make it more like a home.

“We don’t build facilities with multi-bed rooms anymore. All new builds have private rooms, private bathrooms and that should just be basic,” said Wasko.

He said in healthcare they’re continuously trying to improve, and when mistakes do happen, they try to change so those mistakes don’t happen again.