'Everything was decided for us': Saskatoon long term care resident describes 'inhumane' hardships of COVID-19 lockdowns
At one point during the COVID-19 pandemic, Debi Funk wanted to see her daughter.
Instead of being allowed to do so, the Sherbrooke Community Centre resident says she was referred to a psychiatrist.
"This made me feel like when it came to my safety, the only thing that was considered a risk was COVID, but I think residents having mental health struggles is also a risk to our safety," she said Wednesday in a presentation to the Saskatchewan Health Authority board.
"When it came to my safety, my own choices were not asked or considered. It felt like because we live in a care home we were not able to make any of our own decisions about what we did or didn't want to do during the pandemic.
“Everything was decided for us. However, the other people of Saskatchewan were allowed to choose what they felt safe doing, as long as they live within the public health orders."
She said pandemic restrictions on long term care homes have made her feel like she wasn't considered a part of society.
"I remember listening to a press conference in the winter, 2021, where (Chief Medical Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab) made a comment that we had to reduce public health orders because having such high levels of restrictions was inhumane.
"This was hard for me to hear at that time because where I lived, we were in the middle of a 55-day lockdown, which meant that I wasn't allowed to leave my room, and often even couldn't go and have a shower. It made me wonder how these kinds of ongoing outbreak impacts would not be considered inhumane if the ongoing public health orders were being called that."
She has become skeptical that all information is shared and she has a hard time trusting that what the government says will actually unfold.
In the spring, the health minister announced that long term care homes would be opening up - but that information did not come from Sherbrooke and she was still not able to leave her home, she said.
That miscommunication came with a heavy personal cost.
"It took weeks of back and forth to see this clarified, we were left with a lot of uncertainty. Uncertainty about what these changes meant for us as residents. Recently an outbreak was declared in my home, and the information that was shared did not provide details that I needed to know about whether I could go to an event or have family come in.
"The care team didn't know what they should be doing, and different information was being shared with different residents, which was very frustrating. And it meant that I missed out on a very important family gathering when I actually wouldn't have had to. It was my mom's 80th birthday so it was difficult."
None of the SHA board members had any questions or comments for Funk following her presentation.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
'What have we done?' Lawyer describes shock at possible role in Trump's 2016 victory
A lawyer who negotiated a pair of hush money deals at the centre of Donald Trump's criminal trial recalled Thursday his "gallows humor" reaction to Trump's 2016 election victory and the realization that his hidden-hand efforts might have contributed to the win.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Loblaw leaders call criticism 'misguided,' say they aren't to blame for high food prices
Loblaw chairman Galen Weston and the company's new CEO are pushing back against critics who blame the grocery giant for soaring food prices, as a month-long boycott of the retailer gets underway.
'Giant-killer' Kazushi Kimura to race in Kentucky Derby this weekend: 'I'm representing Canada and Japan'
Six years ago, at age 18, Kazushi Kimura left his home and family behind in Hokkaido, Japan to chase a dream. This weekend, he'll ride in the Kentucky Derby.
Orangutan observed treating wound using medicinal plant in world first
Scientists working in Indonesia have observed an orangutan intentionally treating a wound on their face with a medicinal plant, the first time this behavior has been documented.
Quebec premier asks police to dismantle camp at McGill University
Quebec Premier Francois Legault has called on the police to dismantle the pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the lower field of McGill University's downtown campus in Montreal.
TD Bank hit with $9.2M penalty after failing to report suspicious transactions
Canada’s financial-crime watchdog has levied a $9.2-million penalty against The Toronto-Dominion Bank for non-compliance with money laundering and terrorist financing measures as the bank also faces compliance investigations in the U.S.