A Saanich family doctor whose terminally ill mom was left lying in bed helpless when a home-support worker didn’t show up says seniors must be better supported to live independently or to die at home with dignity.
Jennifer Lush said her mother, Marianne Lush, 86, who is largely blind and was left paraplegic after a medical procedure 14 years ago, has chosen to die at home after being diagnosed in August with inoperable colon cancer.
She is supposed to have home-support workers to help her get in and out of bed. But on Thursday, the support worker didn’t arrive for a 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift.
Lush said she discovered the situation when she dropped in for a coffee before her shift.
“Nobody called me,” she said, noting her mother is too frail and her eyesight is too poor to use a phone.
“If I hadn’t gone, if my mom didn’t have a daughter who advocates for her and is involved in her care, my mom would have missed all her medication, she would have been left lying in bed with no ability to get up, and she would have been in horrible pain.”
The health authority and home-support company are supposed to be notified when a home-support worker is sick or can’t make a shift, but that didn’t happen, she said.
“And it worries me how many seniors in our community this might be happening to, you know, if they don’t have family members to advocate for them,” said Lush, whose sister is a nurse on the Lower Mainland.
“When a senior who has two daughters in the health-care system to advocate for her, and whose visits are listed as ‘critical’ priority, is falling through the cracks, I shudder to think what is happening to the majority of B.C.’s seniors in the community.”
Lush said another shift was missed on Sunday.
On Tuesday, the scheduled worker wasn’t available but the shift was covered and Lush was notified, she said.
Lush said she was told that one part of the problem is inequitable compensation because the same type of workers in hospitals and long-term care are better paid.
Marianne Lush is an Island Health client and the health authority subcontracts to Sidney Senior Care for home-support workers to do hours they are not able to do.
Shauna Dorko, owner and CEO of Senior Care Group of companies with more than 100 home support workers through the capital region, including Sidney Senior Care, and the Gulf Islands, said Marianne Lush was left without scheduled home support services on Thursday because of a “communication error with our worker.”
