Seniors, people with disabilities missing home care due to Metro Van bus strike: industry

People who care for seniors and people with disabilities are sounding the alarm about the ongoing Metro Vancouver bus strike’s impact on vulnerable groups.

Terry Lake with the BC Care Providers Association says if care aides, long-term care home staff and seniors who normally rely on transit can’t get around, people in need are at risk.

“It has a great impact on staff… but I think the biggest impact is on home health and the vulnerable elderly clients who depend on people coming in to assist them with things like getting dressed, eating their breakfast and helping with minor health issues,” Lake said.

He says many of the workers who provide home care depend on the bus to get to their clients.

“So there may be cases when people are not getting the kind of service they should be getting because of the bus strike,” he said.

Additionally, he says people in need of home care may not have family nearby to step in if their home health provider can’t come to work.

Even seniors themselves are having difficulty getting around, Lake adds, since they may have given up their driver’s license or can’t afford to own a car.

“Many elderly British Columbians depend on the transit service to get around,” he said.

While some home health companies are attempting to arrange alternate travel arrangements for their staff, Lake says that’s only adding to the increased demand on services like taxis and Uber.

“In the care homes themselves, where we’ve been challenged with staffing shortages, it means that care aides often aren’t able to get there because of the lack of transportation,” he said.

If Metro Vancouver’s SkyTrain service was to join the job action, Lake says it could be catastrophic to workers who don’t live in the neighborhood they work in.

“We’re really just keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn’t spread to include the SkyTrain as well,” he said.

“For staff that work in long-term care homes and retirement homes, the SkyTrain is absolutely essential.”

-With files from Robyn Crawford