Good afternoon. My name is Maria Dreyfus. I am a care aide in a long-term care facility in B.C., where I have worked for 12 years.
My facility has had two outbreaks during the COVID pandemic. The first one was in May and was very small. The second one was in November, when more than 150 people contracted COVID—93 residents and 63 workers—and 26 residents passed away.
It is difficult to describe how very scary it has been for all of us working in long-term care during the pandemic, but when the big outbreak hit our site, it was totally devastating. Residents whom we have known and cared for over many years were dying. We are their care providers, but also their family and friends, so this was very emotional and stressful.
I myself tested positive for COVID–19 and had to self-isolate. There are three other full-time workers living in my household, and they had to self-isolate as well. My biggest fear was that I was going to pass it on to my family. What were we going to do if we all had to be off work?
Fortunately, I had very mild symptoms and was eventually able to return to work, but not all my co-workers were so lucky. One of my co-workers who tested positive is a young mother. She infected not only her husband, but one of her young children. Another co-worker who tested positive recently found out after she returned to work that her internal organs have been badly damaged. This news was incredibly difficult for us to hear. We all cried when we received her text.
This cannot happen again. A quicker response was needed. There's so much fear and anxiety. We needed better communication about the virus and about the PPE required to protect us to the fullest, and we all should be able to apply for workers' compensation benefits and not have to worry about not having enough paid sick leave available to us.
Thank you.