Drew Nursing Home (courtesy Apple Maps)
The Green Party health critic is calling on the province to launch a formal investigation into the COVID-19 outbreak at the Drew Nursing Home in Sackville.
Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton is also asking the government to be more transparent surrounding outbreaks at long-term care facilities.
“It feels like the government has been asleep at the wheel in Sackville. The outbreak at the Drew Nursing Home has been going on for a month now.
“Residents and their families need answers. Why wasn’t this outbreak immediately brought under control by PROMT (Provincial Rapid Outbreak Management Team) and the Department of Social Development, as past outbreaks in long-term care facilities have been. What went wrong?”
Health minister Dorothy Shephard says she will try to be as transparent as possible.
“I’d be more than happy to take questions under advisement and give as much information as we can along with protecting the privacy of individuals associated with that.
“We haven’t been shy to certainly evaluate every single outbreak in every single long-term facility that we have.”
As of October 8th, eight people had died at the Drew Nursing Home while 29 residents and 10 staff had tested positive for the virus.
This is the worst outbreak in a New Brunswick long-term care facility during the fourth wave.
On September 22nd, the government announced that PROMT teams had been activated at 15 long-term care facilities around the province but Mitton noted there has been no update in the past three weeks.
“We are now seeing the same type of crisis at the Drew Nursing Home that other provinces experienced during previous waves,” added Mitton.
“What is happening in long-term care facilities elsewhere in the province? It seems as if the government is trying to sweep this under the rug.”
