Covered in his own feces, Joel Shefrin waited hours for home care to help him — and he’s terrified a looming strike by the province’s health-care support workers will make matters even worse.
More than 25,000 workers, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 204 and the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union, have set a strike date of Oct. 8.
“They’ve already told me I’m not going to be getting help with a shower three times a week,” the 75-year-old Winnipegger, who uses an ostomy bag, said Thursday.
“My ostomy bag comes open several times a week and spews feces over my body. When I call to let home care know of this situation, calls go to voicemail that is supposed to be monitored. The scheduler for the area is the one who is supposed to monitor these calls.”
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Joel Shefrin says he has waited hours for home care to help him and he’s afraid a strike by health-care support workers will make matters even worse.
When his ostomy bag burst open Wednesday, he called Assiniboine South Home Care at 11:23 a.m. and continued to call about every half hour until he got through.
When he finally did, a nurse was dispatched to help. At about 5 p.m., the nurse arrived.
“The feces that leaks out contains acid that is burning me,” he said. “Because of the inaction of the health care, I am laying in feces and suffering for three to four hours — it should be within one to two hours.
“They really don’t care.”
Earlier this week, Shared Health sent out a notice to home care clients warning them that planned job action by CUPE and MGEU union members could see community health services, including home care, “significantly disrupted.”
In an email exchange obtained by the Free Press in the days leading up to a possible strike, a health-care worker asked for advice from their union because they had been asked to train “non-union secretaries” to do their job at a Winnipeg hospital if workers walked off.
A CUPE spokesman noted there is an essential services agreement in place to allow the health-care system to continue safely functioning during a strike, but there are still limits to who can do the work.
“Our essential services agreements prevent the expansion of contractors or work being done outside the bargaining unit,” said Alex McClurg, CUPE’s health-care coordinator.
“We will fully enforce those rules to the full extent of the law.”
MGEU president Kyle Ross said they have not heard any union members being told to train non-union workers — at least not yet.
“We’ve heard they are training managers, which is kind of scary when you have a manager who has to be trained to do the work,” said Ross.
“But we’re not hearing anything from our workers about whether non-unionized shift workers are being trained.”
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Shefrin uses as ostomy bag for bowel movements and needs timely home care when the bags fail.
Ross, who said no bargaining talks are currently scheduled for this weekend, continued to be critical of Shared Health and the NDP government.
“When (Shared Health management) said they needed more time, we expected they would have come back with meaningful changes, but they didn’t,” he said, noting a recent proposal was the same one members rejected a few months earlier.
“The NDP were on many of our (past) picket lines. You would think they would want to avoid this, but it looks like they’re not.”
The MGEU has said the starting wage for health-care support workers in Manitoba is $17.07 per hour — the lowest in the country.
“I understand I can’t have a nurse here all the time, but when I call I want someone here in one or two hours. Waiting three or four hours, with feces all over me, that’s crazy.”–Joel Shefrin
A Shared Health spokesman said health-system employers “continue to bargain in good faith” and hope a strike can be avoided, but added they are training workers in case of a walkout.
“Orientation of some managers, and other non-unionized staff, is beginning in areas where they may be redeployed to provide additional support,” said the spokesman.
“No replacement workers are being hired. Essential services agreements are in place to support vital services.”
Meanwhile, Shefrin said he received the ostomy bag after surgery in February following decades of living with Crohn’s disease.
He said it has become unstuck and pulled away from his body many times in the months since. Usually his wife is there to help him but there are times she is out working and he must rely on home care.
“My wife was trained with the ostomy bags before I got out of hospital,” he said.
“(On Wednesday) she changed the bag at 7 a.m., at 9 a.m., a nurse came and said it was fine, and then at 11:30, it opened. Then you phone, it goes to voicemail, and you never hear from them.
“I understand I can’t have a nurse here all the time, but when I call I want someone here in one or two hours. Waiting three or four hours, with feces all over me, that’s crazy.”
Shefrin admits the waiting is negatively affecting his mental health.
“I’ve always been very independent,” he said. “I don’t want to be in hospital, I don’t want to take up a hospital bed or even a personal care home bed.
“I just need help, but I don’t seem to be getting it from home care.”
A spokeswoman for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said they are looking into the man’s situation, but, because of strike preparations, couldn’t provide an answer Thursday.
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Kevin Rollason
Reporter
Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.
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