The morning rounds at Summerside Elder Lodge in Burnaby begin at 6 AM. When I visited in February, Maya Chen had already been on shift for an hour, checking medications and preparing treatments for the 45 residents under her care. As the only registered nurse on duty, she moved with practiced efficiency – but her eyes betrayed exhaustion.
“Five years ago, we had three RNs on this floor,” she told me, pausing briefly to adjust an elderly man’s oxygen. “Now it’s just me until 3 PM. Some days I don’t even get to sit down.”
Maya represents the face of a deepening crisis in Canada’s long-term care facilities. Across the country, nurses and healthcare workers are leaving these settings at alarming rates, creating staffing shortages that compromise patient care and burn out those who remain.
The numbers tell a stark story. According to Statistics Canada, nearly 20% of registered nursing positions in long-term care facilities remained vacant during the first quarter of 2024, compared to 11% in 2019. The Canadian Institute for Health Information reports that turnover rates among personal support workers in these facilities have reached 30% annually in some provinces.
Behind these statistics are human stories of dedicated professionals pushed to their breaking point.
“I loved my residents like family,” explained Josée Leblanc, who left her position at a Montreal care home last December after seven years. “But I couldn’t provide the care they deserved anymore. When you’re responsible for 40 people and can only give each one a few minutes of attention, it’s heartbreaking.”
The pandemic exposed long-standing cracks in Canada’s long-term care system, with facilities accounting for approximately 69% of all COVID-19 deaths during the first wave, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal. But experts say the exodus of healthcare workers began before COVID-19 and has accelerated due to multiple factors.
“What we’re seeing is a perfect storm,” explained Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Geriatrics at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto. “Chronic underfunding, inadequate staffing ratios, wage disparities compared to hospital settings, and psychological trauma from the pandemic have all contributed to this crisis.”
In British Columbia’s Fraser Valley, I met with a group of current and former long-term care workers who shared their experiences over coffee. Their stories revealed consistent themes: unsustainable workloads, emotional exhaustion, and moral distress at being unable to provide dignified care.
“One night I had 65 residents to care for with just one other aide,” said Thomas Odjig, a licensed practical nurse who recently switched to hospital work after six years in long-term care. “That meant we had less than seven minutes per person during our shift – to help with toileting, medications, comfort, everything. It’s impossible.”
The wages also don’t reflect the demanding nature of the work. A 2023 report from the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions found that long-term care nurses earn an average of 10-15% less than their hospital counterparts, despite often carrying heavier patient loads and greater responsibilities.
For personal support workers and care aides – who provide the majority of hands-on care – the situation is even more dire. Many make just above minimum wage, with limited benefits and little job security.
“I was earning $18.50 an hour to bathe, feed, and care for vulnerable seniors,” said Priya Sharma, who left her position as a care aide in Surrey last year. “I couldn’t even afford to live near my workplace. The emotional toll combined with financial stress became too much.”
The consequences of this exodus extend beyond the workers themselves. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association demonstrates that lower staffing levels in nursing homes correlate directly with poorer resident outcomes, including increased falls, pressure ulcers, weight loss, and depression.
For families with loved ones in these facilities, the staffing crisis creates agonizing uncertainty. When I spoke with Catherine Wilson, whose 88-year-old mother lives in a Winnipeg care home, she described watching the quality of care deteriorate as staff departed.
“Mom used to know all the nurses by name. Now it’s a revolving door of agency staff who don’t know her history or preferences,” Wilson said. “Some days she doesn’t get changed until afternoon because there simply aren’t enough hands.”
Provincial governments have announced various initiatives to address the crisis. Ontario pledged in March to add 27,000 new long-term care workers by 2025, while British Columbia recently increased wages for care aides by approximately $4 per hour. However, healthcare advocates argue these measures don’t address the fundamental issues.
“Throwing money at recruitment without fixing the underlying working conditions is like filling a bathtub with the drain open,” said Pauline Worsfold, Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. “We need to create environments where care providers want to stay.”
Innovations are emerging from within the sector itself. At Sherbrooke Community Centre in Saskatoon, a resident-centered care model has helped maintain staff retention rates well above the national average. The facility operates with smaller, self-directed care teams and empowers workers to make decisions about resident care.
“When staff feel valued and have agency in their work, they’re more likely to stay despite challenges,” explained Suellen Beatty, CEO of Sherbrooke. “Our turnover rate has remained under 10% because we focus on creating meaningful relationships – both between staff and residents, and among the care team itself.”
For Maya Chen back in Burnaby, such innovations feel distant from her daily reality. As her morning shift progressed, I watched her navigate crisis after crisis with remarkable composure – adjusting a medication for a resident in pain, calming another experiencing dementia-related distress, all while documenting everything for the next shift.
“I stay because someone needs to,” she said, finally taking a moment to sip cold coffee. “But something has to change. Our seniors deserve better, and so do we.”
As Canada’s population ages – with those over 85 projected to triple by 2046 according to Statistics Canada – finding sustainable solutions to the long-term care staffing crisis becomes increasingly urgent. The health of our most vulnerable citizens and those who care for them hangs in the balance.
