February 10, 2021

COVID-19 shut down visitation rights on March 17, 2020 in personal care homes in Winnipeg. My greatest fear I had from the moment this pandemic hit was that my father would get COVID-19 in his personal care home in Winnipeg. For months, no visitors were allowed to see their loved ones in these facilities. Eastern Canada was plagued with stories of deadly outbreaks in private personal care homes. My dad was in a government run home so a small, false sense of security surrounded me. Yet, on February 10, 2021, he died of COVID-19. He was too weak to eat so he slowly starved to death over a few weeks. At one point, he was in a room with 9 other COVID positive residences, all succumbing to the disease the same way.

Residents shouldn’t be viewed by the rest of society as collateral damage during the pandemic. Care homes are often set up to provide essentials of life but not always quality of life in places that become people’s homes. My dad lived in his personal care home since December 2014. More is needed to make sure that these people are able to live the best life possible for their current circumstances.

In my opinion, it was inconsiderate and wrong for the personal care home not to grant me visitation rights based on special circumstances. Throughout the year, I pleaded my case so many times but landed on deaf ears. It was only on the third day after my dad tested positive that I was able to spend a half an hour with him. Then it was the weekend and I couldn’t see him again until Monday. Nine days later he passed.