Caring during the COVID-19 crisis: Intersectional exclusion of immigrant women health care aides in Canadian long-term care
Abstract
This community-based research study provides new data collected from 25 in-depth individual interviews with immigrant women HCAs who were working in LTC in Calgary, Alberta between January 1 and March 30, 2021. The data, analysed through the lens of intersectional exclusion, highlight how the pandemic has impacted the working lives of immigrant women employed in LTC facilities on a daily basis, as well as their suggestions for enhancing their safety and employment conditions. Two key themes emerged during the process of data analysis: (a) HCA experiences of economic exclusion and workplace precarity—many of which pre-dated the pandemic but have been exacerbated by current policies and practices that prioritize profits over quality of community care, and (b) experiences of broader social exclusion, many of which are tied to being considered “just HCAs” who are doing “immigrant’s work”, rather than including HCAs in broader conversations about how to reform and improve the LTC sector for future. Concluding thoughts discuss how to improve policy to support low wage workers within LTC in order to address intersectional inequalities and to better support front-line care workers during current and future health pandemic recovery efforts.
Notes
Community organizations: n/a
Key findings:
Immigrant and racialized women are over-represented among health care aids in long term care.
COVID-19 has exacerbated preexisting economic and social exclusion of immigrant health care aides employed in long term care.
Addressing intersectional inequalities experienced by low wage care workers must be a priority in efforts to improve long term care.
Key populations: racialized immigrant women health care aides who were working in long term care in Calgary, Alberta between January 1 and March 30, 2021.
Key recommendations:
Increase workplace protections and financial supports to mitigate and to compensate for the risk of COVID-19 exposure that long term care health care aides face, as well as increasing the quality of their daily working lives and the resident care they provide.
Renew government investment in public and not-for-profit long term care institutions in Alberta.
Decrease barriers for unionization of health care aides in Alberta.
Include health care aides in policy and planning discussions on how to reform and improve the long term care sector.
Location: Calgary, AB
Open access: No
Future research / gaps identified:
Future studies should include larger sample sizes and different study designs to corroborate/challenge the data in this study.
Integration timeline: not defined