Dear editor,My friend lives in a residential care ward in the Seniors Village here in Courtenay. She is one of the many people who are unable to look after themselves.I visit her frequently and while there, I observe things that don't get done for her. Things that effect her quality of life, her dignity, in what is now, her home.A cord or towel or other obstruction on the floor which prevents her driving her chair to reach her phone; the call bell rope or TV remote is not within her reach; no one mixed her cereal and yogurt for breakfast or toasted her sandwich as she prefers; she hasn't been put on the toilet or her diaper has not been changed all day; she gets bathed or showered once or twice a week; a winter outing without having had her jacket put on; her chair's motors not engaged so she is immobilized, etc.These, and many other things, have to be done by someone else and they take time. Some only a few minutes each, others much longer but, multiply this by 16, the number of residents on this ward, who also are unable to look after themselves, and give them only two care aides to attend to all these needs. And there are some tasks that require the presence of both care aides to attend one resident, which leaves the other 15 residents in limbo.I see the care aides racing from one call to the next. They must prioritize on the fly. Of course some things are not attended to!The care aides care. They want to do everything, to make life easier for those who are unable to help themselves but, they can't be in two places at once.I see their stress and wonder about their burnout rate. And it doesn't help when an angry visitor berates them because their mother or father received only the basic care.There should be twice the staff in residential care. Don't blame the care aides.But, you can't fault the management or owners either.The ratio of staff to residents, I understand, is set by VIHA (Vancouver Island Health Authority) 鈥� those same civil servants that we pay to look after the needs of our citizens who are unable to look after themselves. That ratio may work for the assisted living residents who can still look after themselves but, not for those in residential care.I don't know how much the head of VIHA makes but, whatever the amount, it's too much. He or she has failed miserably at providing enough staff for the proper care of those who are no longer able to care for themselves.Please fix this. Double the care aide staff. Enable the care aides to care for the residents as worthy human beings.Gordon RussellCourtenay
