Winnipeg Free Press

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Thompson Building, 510 Main Street between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, excluding holidays; or on-line at www.winnipeg.ca WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● A11 NEWS I LOCAL THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2024 ‘Everyone here is in crisis mode’ as care home strike continues T WO weeks after more than 150 health work- ers went on strike, residents say care at Ten Ten Sinclair facilities is inadequate and there has been almost no communication from the non-profit organization. Ten Ten Sinclair Housing Inc. supports ap- proximately 100 people with physical disabilities and other challenges at its main facility in Garden City and six others elsewhere in Winnipeg. Nolan Smith said he’s been helped by a dozen dif- ferent aides since the strike began March 6. “I’ve got people basically walking in off the street, and they’re very uncomfortable with the human anatomy,” he said. “Everyone needs a job, but this job is not for everyone.” Most of the striking workers are health-care aides represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees of Manitoba who’ve been without a con- tract for four years. Smith moved into Ten Ten’s Fokus I building on Assiniboine Avenue after a 2018 accident left him a quadriplegic. He relies on attendants to be turned during the night to help prevent bedsores and, among other things, to monitor his catheter; if it gets twisted and a staff member isn’t there in time, he could be sent into autonomic dysreflexia — an abnormal overreaction of the involuntary nervous system — which could trigger a heart attack. “I have strangers coming in the middle of the night… to do my routines and I have to talk them through it,” he said. “It’s just become a revolving door.” CUPE president Gina McKay said wages for workers at the facilities have increased by 1.75 per cent since 2016, while the cost of living has in- creased by 25 per cent. The median hourly wage of employees at Ten Ten Sinclair Inc. is between $15 and $18, she said. Lori Ross, a tenant of Fokus II on Kennedy Street, said the coming and going of aides is af- fecting tenants emotionally, as some get attached to their caregivers. “(A tenant) was in tears,” she said. “Everyone is doing the best they can and then they get told that the people who finally learned your routines are being pulled out. “Everyone here is in crisis mode.” Ross had polio and uses a wheelchair and a back brace for support. She has lived at Fokus II for 40 years and has never experienced a strike before. The attendant who arrived to help Ross Tuesday had never assisted the 66-year-old before. While the aide succeeded in securing the brace, it was dis- heartening for Ross to know she would likely have to teach a new worker how to do it the next day. A letter obtained by the Free Press that was sent to tenants a week ago said efforts to minimize care disruptions were underway, but some residents ha- ven’t heard anything from leaders at the non-profit since then. “We know that the ongoing strike has directly impacted your daily routines and recognize that this is a concerning and frustrating situation for you and your loved ones,” the letter, signed by executive director Debbie Van Ettinger, said. “Our priority at all times is to ensure a safe con- tinuity of attendant care for all tenants and as a result of the current circumstances, some changes to daily routines and schedules are necessary to make that possible.” Smith said the lack of communication is par for the course between management and tenants. Multiple requests for comment sent to Van Et- tinger have gone unanswered. nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca NICOLE BUFFIE ;