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When Pamela Hollington placed her 80-year-mother into a nursing home she was shocked to learn there would be as few as two care aides at times overseeing 50 residents on a specialized ward for people suffering from dementia. To ensure her mother's needs are met, Hollington now pays for a companion to visit her mother daily to "augment staffing levels." Daycare has mandated staffing levels for children in care but that isn't the case for seniors in nursing homes. Instead, administrators of B.C.'s 331 long-term care facilities can decide their own staffing needs and can choose or not choose to follow Ministry of Health guidelines. Vancouver Coastal Health, for instance, follows the industry standard of one care aide at night for every 25 residents. The Hospital Employees Union, which represents 15,000 care aides in British Columbia, said the standard being used in the industry is not enough, and chronic understaffing has reached dangerous proportions. "We hear from our members routinely that they are not backfilled when they are on vacation or sick. Our members are literally rushed off their feet to the point where safety is compromised - both their safety and the safety of residents," said the HEU's Jennifer Whiteside. The union is among many advocates for seniors in B.C. who are calling for staffing levels to be put into law for long term care facilities, and at a higher staff ratio than the current guidelines. She said this would also ensure consistency in staffing levels for nursing homes across the province. A HEU study of care aides in late 2014 found more than 70 per cent of its members felt they did not have enough time to comfort, reassure or calm residents they were caring for when residents were feeling confused, agitated or fearful. And nearly 75 per cent said they felt they had to rush through basic care for the elderly. Another 83.1 per cent reported they have been "struck, scratched, spit on or subjected to