Nova Scotia’s long-term care facilities are receiving a massive investment meant to reduce pressure injuries and improve resident care.
About $1.7 million in government funds will go to the Canadian Red Cross for the “rapid deployment” of special air mattresses and pressure redistribution cushions in the Canadian province. These moves come after recent media reports questioned the death of a 40-year-old resident from an infected wound, the Chronicle Herald reported. Another $880,000 will go toward buying more lifts to allow nursing facilities to move residents.
Officials said they did not want any delay in getting out supplies to nursing homes across the province. Often, providers wait upward of six weeks before they arrive, according to the report.
“Knowing that equipment can take time to order and be delivered to long-term care facilities, the piece that this money will allow us to do is a bulk-purchase and drop-deliver to all of the long-term care facilities across Nova Scotia,” said Christina Baert-Wilson, senior director of community and health services with the Canadian Red Cross.
Nova Scotian health officials have been criticized for an ongoing shortage of beds, keeping patients waiting in hospitals for long stretches before SNF placement.
