The impacts are the result of $6.7 million in budget cuts to long-term care announced recently by the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness.
In Truro, that amounts to a total of almost $270,000 less funding this year for four nursing homes.
They include: Cedarstone -$110,700; The Mira - $72,800; Townsview Estates – $27,900 and Wynn Park Villa - $58,000.
“It’s very depressing,” said one worker at the Mira, who asked not to be identified for fear of repercussions from speaking out. “Because we just don’t know, ‘am I going to be next.’”
The employee said while cutbacks have been restricted to kitchen and housekeeping staff, they do impact residents because there is less time to spend with them when serving meals and so forth.
“You just can’t keep asking for more with less,” the person said. “Everything is just extremely rushed as it is.”
James Balcom, director of operations for the GEM Health Care Group which owns the Mira, said since the beginning of 2015, the cutbacks by the province have totaled approximately $200,000 for his company.
“So I think we’ve done pretty well,” he said of staff cutbacks that work out to less than one full-time equivalent position. And management was careful to ensure that no cuts were made to nursing, or direct care, staff, Balcom said.
“We looked at every (budget) line,” in determining how to cut, he said. “Having said that, no one wants to see anyone affected. We’ve really tried not to have anyone affected.”
No one was immediately available for comment on Friday at the other three nursing homes.
Information recently provided by CUPE said the cuts by the Nova Scotia Liberals have also forced staff layoffs at nursing home facilities in Halifax, Amherst, Hammonds Plains and Dartmouth.
“Nursing homes are being made to cut corners in nutrition, recreational programs, and staffing,” Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River MLA Lenore Zann said in a news release issued on National Seniors Day (Oct. 1). “Seniors deserve respect and dignity – not cutbacks that diminish their quality of life. Balancing the budget on the backs of our seniors is not - and should not be - the Nova Scotian way.”
Twitter: @tdnharry
