What happened: Some long-term health care facilities have not received orders of personal protective equipment (PPE) from the U.S., and are now scrambling to source supplies domestically.
Why it matters: Long-term care home operators have struggled for weeks to get PPE supplies, which could become even more of a challenge, now that the Donald Trump administration has invoked the Defense Production Act to restrict the export of supplies to Canada.
Some long-term care homes in B.C. can't get the basic PPE supplies they need, though it’s not clear that the restrictions on exports to Canada from the U.S. are necessarily to blame for recent holdups in deliveries.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday morning that an order of nearly 3 million masks that the province ordered had been stopped at the Canada-U.S. border. He later said that 500,000 of the masks were being released.
Here in B.C., there are conflicting reports about the situation.
“We don’t have any supplies, that I’m aware of, that have been affected yet by the concerns from the U.S.” public health officer Bonnie Henry said Monday.
But Lee Coonfer, CEO of the BC Seniors Living Association, confirmed that shipments of PPE to some B.C. care homes appear to have been halted.
They are now scrambling to find alternative suppliers domestically.
“We’ve had a number of cases on the long-term care side where shipments have been delayed, stopped or future orders forbidden right now,” Coonfer said.
Ken Donohue, director of communications for SafeCare BC, doesn’t think the most recent holdups are the result of Trump’s ban on PPE exports by companies like 3M.
“I haven’t heard specifically about supplies that have been held up coming from the U.S,” he said. “I do know that many long-term care homes, over the past three or four weeks, have had troubles getting supplies of personal protective equipment, and lot of that has been (due to) disruption of traditional supply chain.
“Part of that is obviously the increased global use. Globally there’s a shortage.”
The situation has become so dire for some health care facilities in Canada that Canada’s public health officer, Theresa Tam, has asked hospitals and other health facilities not to throw away masks, and Canadian health officials are now looking into whether they can be disinfected and reused.
"What we commonly hear is that people will contact their commercial suppliers and then be told that the commercial suppliers are withholding orders -- fulfilling orders from hospitals, for example, first," said Jennifer Lyle, CEO of SafeCare BC.
"We know, as early as mid-February, we were starting to see strains in the supply chains, and what has happened since then is that care homes, assisted living, home care agencies, the supply channel that they normally relied have either completely shut down or they severely dwindled, to the point where you're only getting a fraction of your order in.
"Some care homes are still managing, but there are other care homes whose own individual supply stockpiles have essentially been depleted."
In response to the shortage from traditional suppliers, SafeCare BC launched a program called Operation Protect two weeks ago that has called on companies and individuals to donate PPE supplies.
Many business – from dentist’s offices to heavy industry – have the kind of equipment, like masks and gloves, that are needed in long-term care homes to protect workers.
To date, 300,000 pieces of PPE have been donated, Donohue said.
SafeCare BC is working with the Ministry of Health to distribute the items where they are needed most, including hospitals and care homes.
“If care homes get to a point where they have a couple of days of supply left, we’re working with the ministry to fast-track those care homes so that they can get supply,” Donohue said.
Care homes in need of supplies should contact Safecare BC. Donations can be made here.
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