Family may need to help care for loved ones in two southern Manitoba personal care homes

Family members who have loved ones living at two personal care homes in the Southern Health region tell CTV News they have been given the heads-up they may need to help with care starting next week.

Family members who have loved ones living at two personal care homes in the Southern Health region tell CTV News they have been given the heads-up they may need to help with care starting next week.

The two homes are Salem Home in Winkler, Man. and Tabor Home in Morden, Man.

“My feeling is such that I feel that I should not be expressing it in its entirety. It’s a negative feeling,” said Carol Derksen, whose 98-year-old mother Helena Martin lives at Salem Home.

She said she received a letter detailing what she may have to do come Monday when mandatory COVID-19 vaccination or routine COVID-19 testing for front-line health care staff comes into effect in the province.

“For the next while they would not be admitting anybody else,” she said. “And that the persons that are here, and they specifically mentioned my mother, that they would request that family caregivers come in and help feed and do laundry and general things like that.”

Derksen said it is because the personal care home is very short-staffed, partially due to people who are not getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

“That troubles me,” she said.