COVID-19: Nurses' union goes to court to force London long-term care home to provide masks

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The union for Ontario nurses is escalating a dispute with Henley Place, a London long-term care home with a COVID-19 outbreak, alleging it isn’t giving staff proper equipment such as masks.

The Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) is asking a Superior Court justice to order the home to stop violating provincial health and safety law, public health directives, and its collective agreement with frontline staff.

The nurses’ union argues in its application that Henley Place – run by a company called Primacare Living – has broken those rules and agreements by failing to provide adequate protective equipment, raising “the likelihood of irreparable harm to both staff and the residents for whom they provide care.”

A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, the union said.

“ONA’s members at this facility have not been provided with readily available access to PPE (personal protective equipment) such as N95 respirators when providing care to residents with confirmed, suspected, or presumed COVID-19,” including when dealing with residents who are “coughing and choking,” the union alleges in its court application.

The home’s administrator and its parent company did not respond to requests for comment.

An outbreak was declared at Henley Place in northeast London last month. Two residents have since died, and one staff member is in quarantine with COVID-19 symptoms, the union said in its application.

Jen Logan’s 93-year-old grandmother lives at Henley Place, though she’s not on a floor with confirmed COVID-19 cases, her granddaughter said. Family is kept in the loop with weekly Zoom video conferencing chats when they can ask questions.

That started about two weeks ago, and the first session was done by staff at the home, Logan said.

“I felt like the tone of that was really harrowing. They’re doing everything they can within their power to make sure people are looked after,” she said.

“We really felt for the nurses and the people who are caring for your loved ones, because they are also risking their own lives.”

The next session was delivered by management and had a more clinical feel, Logan said, discussing business and logistics such as obtaining death certificates.

She has concerns about the slow pace of testing – until Premier Doug Ford ordered more of it at long-term care homes – and the contingency plans at Henley Place.

“This is a place of business, and they should be prepared for such an instance. It’s not like we didn’t know a pandemic was going to happen,” Logan said.

“Everybody is going, ‘It’s out of my hands.’ I understand that, to a degree, but on the other hand, you’re caring for a vulnerable population . . . that’s a very weak excuse.”

The same complaints that led to ONA’s application for an injunction were raised in a grievance through the union, court documents said.

“Without urgent intervention, residents and staff at Henley Place will continue to transmit COVID-19 and possibly die,” ONA said in its application.

The association is also seeking similar court orders for Anson Place in Hagersville, the site of one of the worst outbreaks in the province, and two Toronto-area nursing homes. At Anson Place, 24 residents have died from COVID-19 and 71 residents are infected with the virus.

In the court documents, ONA says the COVID-19 pandemic has “decimated both Ontario’s health care system and its economy.”

mstacey@postmedia.com

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