A crisis at a midtown Toronto long-term-care home that has seen 22 deaths and dozens of COVID-19 infections is taking a toll on residents’ families.

“It’s tough for everyone involved in this situation,” said Nicole Maunder, whose 72-year-old mother is in Meighen Manor, near Yonge St. and Davisville Ave.

In her case, tighter restrictions mean she can only communicate with her mother through Facetime. With no access and visitation, family members are turning to video calls to stay in touch with their loved ones in the facility run by the Salvation Army, and other long-term care homes.

“It’s hard to be in contact with my mom because she has got severe dementia,” Maunder told the Star.

“They don’t understand what’s going on,” she said. “I used to visit here five-six times a week, and now she doesn’t understand why we just stopped visiting.”

The long-term-care home banned visitors in the middle of March due to concerns over the increasing spread of the novel coronavirus.

Maunder said after the outbreak spread to her mom’s floor, her mother got tested. Monday, it came back negative.

On some days, Maunder takes her 11-year old son to the home and waves at her mother from afar.

“We’ll wave, and she’ll be happy to see us, but she doesn’t understand,” Maunder said. “She keeps waving at us and telling us to come inside.”

Maunder has no complaints with Meighen Manor and believes it’s handling the outbreak very well.

“When you get to the age when you have to place your parent in a nursing home, it’s a harrowing and a gut-wrenching decision,” Maunder said. “So you have to make sure that the home you put them in is good, and Meighen Manor has been exceptional in every way.

“The staff there are so compassionate, I know they really care about their residents,” she added.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

However, she believes that the Manor, and all long-term-care homes, should have brought in universal masking from the very start to avoid an outbreak.

Salvation Army spokesperson Maj. Robert Kerr said Thursday that 22 residents have died overall at the 168-bed facility. Seventy-four residents and 26 staff members have tested positive in the care home.