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Every one of Ottawa’s 27 long-term care homes, which house some of the city’s most vulnerable residents, has been the site of either violence, sexual abuse or death resulting from improper care, an investigation by this newspaper reveals.
Since 2012, there have been at least 163 cases of reported resident abuse — either physical, sexual or verbal — and at least 17 deaths that have led to a home being found non-compliant with provincial legislation governing long-term care.
During that same period, there were a total of 2,033 instances of non-compliance at Ottawa long-term care homes.
A facility can be found non-compliant for any of a litany of reasons. Some are relatively minor, such as a failure to offer a resident a snack. Some can be serious, even when no resident is harmed, such as leaving an exit door unlocked. And some are very serious, such as cases involving abuse and death.
This newspaper’s data is the result of an examination of more than 8,500 pages of Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care inspection reports.
Inspection reports published between 2012 to 2016, along with all available reports from 2017, were reviewed.
The data shows a clear, upward trend in non-compliance since 2012.
There were 141 instances of non-compliance across the city in 2012 and each year the number has risen, culminating in a 265 per cent increase over a five-year period. There were 516 non-compliance citations in 2016. There have already been 400 citations in 2017, though many reports have yet to be filed.
Cases of reported abuse follow a slightly different trend, with the numbers remaining relatively flat before spiking in 2015 and 2016. There were 66 cases in 2016 and only 12 cases in 2012. (There have already been 33 reported cases in 2017.)
Earlier this year, this newspaper conducted a similar audit of Ottawa’s four municipally run homes, but this is the first wide-ranging look at all homes in the city, including both non-profit and for-profit facilities.
Related
While the ministry reports are made public, each report exists in a vacuum, making it difficult to assess a home’s history of non-compliance.
Because of this, when a serious incident occurs in a long-term care home — such as the assault of an 89-year-old dementia resident reported by this newspaper in July — it can be hard to decipher whether the incident is an aberration or part of a deeper problem.
This newspaper built a database tracking non-compliance and cases of abuse, neglect and death to reveal trends in how Ottawa’s elderly are cared for.
The numbers paint a bleak picture, the contents of the reports even more so.
Our long-term-care system is in crisis, critics say.
In November 2014, for example, a resident at Garden Terrace in Kanata was found covered in feces. The resident, whose gender is not identified in the report, was discovered by a nurse with “dried feces under his/her fingers … with his/her fingers by his/her mouth.”
A personal support worker had known the resident was covered in feces and did nothing about it for 40 minutes because the support worker was upset that a colleague had not taken care of the resident before ending his shift.
In November 2015, during lunch in the dining room at The Glebe Centre, across the street from Lansdowne Park, a resident with a history of violence was eating alone, unsupervised by staff.
Over the course of a year, this resident had attacked other residents seven different times. The resident was “known to be territorial and reacts by physical aggression to co-residents,” the ministry report says.
During lunch, screams brought a nurse rushing into the dining area.
The resident with the history of aggression was punching another resident in the head. The blows resulted in an open wound.
It’s unclear how the resident who was attacked ended up beside his attacker, the report says. More puzzling still, the injured resident was in the midst of receiving palliative care and “could not propel independently from the bedroom to the dining room.”
A ministry inspector interviewed all staff members working the lunch shift that day. None of them remembered who had brought the palliative care resident to the dining hall, and none of them could explain how that resident had ended up beside a resident with a known history of physical violence.
The palliative care resident died four days later, though not as a result of the attack, the report says.
A cognitively impaired resident at Extendicare Medex in Nepean was punched so hard by another resident that the impaired resident went flying three feet in the air, a July 2017 ministry report says. The resident was taken to hospital for treatment.
A resident at Madonna Care Community in Orleans was physically abused by a personal support worker twice in one shift, a July 2016 report reveals. The report doesn’t outline how the resident was abused, beyond saying the abuse led the resident to “moan” in pain. In each instance, the abuse was witnessed by another support worker who did not report the abuse until the following day.
A resident at Forest Hill in Kanata choked to death during a meal, a July 2013 report outlines. Staff members at the home noticed the resident had previously struggled eating, but decided to monitor the situation further. Eventually, staff members recommended a change to the resident’s diet as a preventive measure. The next day, before the changes were implemented, the resident choked to death.
A February 2016 report details how a personal support worker made a resident at Royal Ottawa Place, off Carling Avenue, sleep in a bed soiled with urine.
A resident at Hillel Lodge was transferred from bed by a personal support worker with the incorrect mechanical lift, a November 2014 report says. During the transfer, the resident fell to floor, fracturing a hip and sustaining a head injury. The resident died the next day.
An April 2013 report describes what happened to a resident at Carlingview Manor who showed up to dinner service late. A staff member told the resident that “There wasn’t enough left over to feed the latecomers.” The resident then asked, “What do I have to do, get on my hands and knees?” The staff member said yes. The resident began to get down on the floor to beg before the staff member told the resident she was only joking.
These examples are just a smattering of the numerous cases of abuse, neglect and death in Ottawa’s long-term care homes that have gone unreported.
Other cases are more well-known and have been documented by this newspaper, such as the 11-punch assault of Georges Karam at Garry J. Armstrong; the discovery of 85-year-old François Bisson, found dead in a pool of blood at Garry J. Armstrong; the violent death of Violet Lucas, found with her head wedged between her bed rail at Laurier Manor; and the death of Rita Normoyle, also at Laurier Manor, whose health went into a downward spiral following a verbal confrontation with a support worker that led to Normoyle falling hard to the ground.
Georges Karam, in his room at the Garry J Armstrong home in Ottawa. On Monday, the Citizen published a video showing a personal support worker repeatedly punching the 89-year-old.
All of these cases, however, only tell a partial story about the problems facing Ottawa’s long-term care homes.
That’s because only so much can be gleaned from the available data that raises questions that don’t have ready answers.
The number of non-compliance orders levied against Ottawa homes is a case-in-point example.
Why has there been a year-over-year upward trend?
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care couldn’t provide answers.
When told about the trend in non-compliance and number of cases of reported abuse uncovered by this newspaper, Health Minister Eric Hoskins provided an emailed statement that did not address those numbers.
The minister did note that the province recently passed a bill that allows for more stringent enforcement at long-term care homes, including substantial monetary fines for homes that are repeatedly found non-compliant.
“Ontario is a place we should all be comfortable to grow old in, and as minister I will not rest until this value is met and upheld in every long-term care home in Ontario,” Hoskins’ statement said.
Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins.
The minister’s words, however, do not help explain what’s happening in Ottawa.
But Jane Meadus, a lawyer for the Toronto-based Advocacy Centre for the Elderly and an expert in long-term care, said it’s not an easily explainable trend.
“I don’t really know why there has been an increase,” she says. “It’s hard to say. You could say it’s because there have been more inspections and more reporting or it could be that there’s more abuse. It’s hard to know from the pure numbers.”
The ministry hired 100 new inspectors in 2013, which certainly played a role, she said. Another factor is Ontario’s auditor general Bonnie Lysyk.
In 2015, Lysyk excorciated the province for failing to adequately inspect homes.
Lysyk found the province was slow in addressing complaints and critical incidents. She found tracking of complaints and critical incidents was inconsistent and inspection delays placed residents at risk.
Following Lysyk’s report, the number of non-compliance orders in Ottawa markedly increased in 2015 and 2016. Every home in the city, except five, had their worst year for non-compliance in either 2015 or 2016.
Another explanation could be the pressures facing the long-term care system, not just in Ottawa, but across the province.
Ontario’s ageing population and long-term care residents are older and sicker than they were a decade ago. The majority are over 85, almost three-quarters have some form of dementia, and most have mobility issues. Many need help with daily tasks such as eating, dressing and bathing.
As this newspaper’s health reporter, Elizabeth Payne, has previously reported, staffing has not kept up with the level of care required, leaving support workers and nurses rushed and residents and their families frustrated. Many families and residents praise what support workers and nurses do in long-term care homes, but say they are working within a system that is broken.
Earlier this year, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called on the government to do more on the long-term care file, saying the system “is in an absolute crisis and that needs to be addressed.”
Regardless of the reason for Ottawa’s jump in non-compliance since 2012, the raw data is concerning, Meadus says.
“That’s a huge number, no matter what the reasoning for it is,” she says. “It’s too many. It’s way too many. The number alone is too high.”
NDP Leader, Andrea Horwath.
The increase may in fact be a sign of something positive, though.
Lorraine Purdon, another expert in long-term care and the executive director of Family Councils Ontario, says she actually sees the rise in non-compliance as “good news.” That’s because it means that instances of non-compliance that may have been missed before are now being caught.
“I would also think that because of those inspections there has been more improvement in the overall care and safety of residents,” she says.
Purdon also says the non-compliance data can create a narrative devoid of context. The numbers only tell one side of the story, she says.
“My concern about the bad press about long-term care is that (the media) makes it sound dreadful, and while we certainly cannot be flippant about any kind of abuse, there are so many instances in long-term care of (homes being) an absolutely amazing place for people to be when they need it.”
But at the same time, with ministry reports, context is a two-sided coin, she says.
“Sometimes when there is a non-compliance, it’s really hard to tell exactly what went on and it’s really hard to tell if anything has been fixed,” she says.
And that is a major problem when it comes to understanding the scope of abuse that occurs in Ottawa homes.
Meadus says the 163 cases of reported abuse uncovered by this newspaper is a conservative estimate. The number is likely higher, she says.
“So much of it happens behind closed doors, residents are not able to report it themselves, so it will often require a third party to report something,” she says. “People in homes and their families are also afraid to report.”
Another issue with measuring abuse in homes is that ministry inspectors are not investigators, she says.
They look at the information provided to them by the home and use the information they gather from interviews with staff, but they don’t investigate a case in the same way a police officer would, Meadus says.
That creates multiple problems.
In numerous instances reviewed by this newspaper, the details in a reported abuse case were thin. Sometimes an abuse case only received a passing mention in a ministry report and the extent of what occurred, as well as any corrective action taken, went undocumented.
For example, a reported abuse case is outlined in a February 2014 ministry report following an inspection of Manoir Marochel, a long-term care home on Montreal Road.
The home was found non-compliant because the facility’s director was not immediately notified of a suspected case of abuse.
The report is a single paragraph:
“During an interview with the Administrator he indicated that he was made aware on a specific date in October 2013 by an individual that witnessed Staff S110 slap Resident #001 while providing care on a specific date in September 2013. The Critical Incident Report was completed and submitted to the Director on a specific date in October 2013; three days after the Administrator and Director of Care had reasonable grounds to suspect alleged physical abuse.”
No other details are provided. The incident is not mentioned in subsequent reports.
“It’s really difficult to tell what happened,” when reading reports, Meadus says. “I’ve seen reports that, unless I knew what actually happened, I couldn’t tell what happened.”
And cases of abuse might not become a part of the public record because of the roles of inspectors.
While a home has a mandatory duty to report allegations of patient abuse, if the facility did as it is required and reported the abuse, it could be found in compliance with provincial requirements — and the incident would not be mentioned in a non-compliance report.
Or, if there is a complaint and the situation is remedied by the time an inspector gets there, the home is considered to be in compliance, Meadus says.
In Ottawa, there are dozens of instances where this might have occurred since 2012.
Our review found 113 reports conducted by ministry inspectors where homes were inspected for non-compliance in relation to abuse or neglect. In each case, the inspected home was found compliant and no details from the inspector were published.
That could mean an additional 113 cases of reported abuse or none; it’s impossible to know.
Meadus uses the metaphor of a floating iceberg to describe what gets documented in ministry reports.
What we know is just the tip.
With files from Elizabeth Payne
Do you have a story about long-term care that you want to tell us about? Email Drake Fenton at dfenton@postmedia.com.
Homes respond to incidents of abuse
Multiple examples of reported abuse, neglect and death in long-term care homes were uncovered through this newspaper’s examination of long-term care facilities in Ottawa.
Homes that were mentioned were given a chance to comment about the the specific incidents documented by this newspaper.
Multiple homes responded, their comments are below:
Forest Hill and Garden Terrace:
Forest Hill and Garden Terrace are operated by OMNI Health Care.
Patrick McCarthy, president and CEO of OMNI Health Care, said in both examples cited by this newspaper, the ministry report documenting the non-compliance was accurate. In the example at Garden Terrace, he added that “The home assessed the resident involved for harm and provided care and attention, and contacted the family involved to keep them informed and to apologize for the delay in provision of care.
“In addition to the follow-up that occurred with the staff member involved, all staff members are provided with education and information annually in regards to the provision of care, resident rights, abuse and neglect, and other topics.”
McCarthy also said OMNI homes are “committed to the provision of quality care, and an extensive quality program has been implemented at all homes to monitor quality indicators, and identify and address areas of risk in order to provide the best possible care.”
Carlingview Manor
Carlingview Manor is operated by Revera Long-Term Care.
Brooke Allen, vice-president of operations for Revera, said the company is “committed to providing an environment in which all of our residents are treated with dignity and respect, in alignment with our own Code of Conduct and with the Residents’ Bill of Rights, as outlined in the Ontario Long-Term Care Homes Act.”
He said the 2013 incident documented by this newspaper did not meet the home’s standards and said the home “took steps to improve the operations at Carlingview Manor.”
He also said that company “conducts annual mandatory training for all staff in our long-term care homes on the Residents’ Bill of Rights.”
Extendicare Medex
Extendicare Medex is operated by Extendicare.
Tina Nault, administrator at Extendicare Medex, said the “health and safety of our residents is our top priority.”
Nault couldn’t comment on the specific incident reported by this newspaper, citing privacy concerns. However, Nault discussed an issue now facing the home.
“We have seen an increase in our home of residents who exhibit some form of aggressive behaviours (what we call responsive behaviours). Extendicare Medex collaborates with Behavioural Support Ontario (BSO) and works with BSO professionals who are tasked to develop care plan interventions for residents who exhibit responsive behaviours and to support the home and its staff in the application of these interventions,” Nault said.
“We are very fortunate to also have the support of other resources in the community; however, these resources are not available for residents under the age of 65. This poses a great challenge for residents and for our staff.”
Madonna Care Community
Madonna Care Community is operated by Sienna Senior Living.
Jennifer Powley, the home’s executive director, said “resident safety is our number one priority, and our team members are committed to ongoing learning and education that reflects best practices in long-term care.
“We remain focused on quality improvement and on helping residents live fully every day.”
dfenton@postmedia.com
查看原文...
Since 2012, there have been at least 163 cases of reported resident abuse — either physical, sexual or verbal — and at least 17 deaths that have led to a home being found non-compliant with provincial legislation governing long-term care.
During that same period, there were a total of 2,033 instances of non-compliance at Ottawa long-term care homes.
A facility can be found non-compliant for any of a litany of reasons. Some are relatively minor, such as a failure to offer a resident a snack. Some can be serious, even when no resident is harmed, such as leaving an exit door unlocked. And some are very serious, such as cases involving abuse and death.
This newspaper’s data is the result of an examination of more than 8,500 pages of Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care inspection reports.
Inspection reports published between 2012 to 2016, along with all available reports from 2017, were reviewed.
The data shows a clear, upward trend in non-compliance since 2012.
There were 141 instances of non-compliance across the city in 2012 and each year the number has risen, culminating in a 265 per cent increase over a five-year period. There were 516 non-compliance citations in 2016. There have already been 400 citations in 2017, though many reports have yet to be filed.
Cases of reported abuse follow a slightly different trend, with the numbers remaining relatively flat before spiking in 2015 and 2016. There were 66 cases in 2016 and only 12 cases in 2012. (There have already been 33 reported cases in 2017.)
Earlier this year, this newspaper conducted a similar audit of Ottawa’s four municipally run homes, but this is the first wide-ranging look at all homes in the city, including both non-profit and for-profit facilities.
Related
- The crisis in care: Long-term care is failing our most vulnerable residents
- In defence of personal support workers
- The heartbreaking death of Violet Lucas
- Caught on video: Man with dementia punched in face 11 times by care worker
While the ministry reports are made public, each report exists in a vacuum, making it difficult to assess a home’s history of non-compliance.
Because of this, when a serious incident occurs in a long-term care home — such as the assault of an 89-year-old dementia resident reported by this newspaper in July — it can be hard to decipher whether the incident is an aberration or part of a deeper problem.
This newspaper built a database tracking non-compliance and cases of abuse, neglect and death to reveal trends in how Ottawa’s elderly are cared for.
The numbers paint a bleak picture, the contents of the reports even more so.
Our long-term-care system is in crisis, critics say.
In November 2014, for example, a resident at Garden Terrace in Kanata was found covered in feces. The resident, whose gender is not identified in the report, was discovered by a nurse with “dried feces under his/her fingers … with his/her fingers by his/her mouth.”
A personal support worker had known the resident was covered in feces and did nothing about it for 40 minutes because the support worker was upset that a colleague had not taken care of the resident before ending his shift.
In November 2015, during lunch in the dining room at The Glebe Centre, across the street from Lansdowne Park, a resident with a history of violence was eating alone, unsupervised by staff.
Over the course of a year, this resident had attacked other residents seven different times. The resident was “known to be territorial and reacts by physical aggression to co-residents,” the ministry report says.
During lunch, screams brought a nurse rushing into the dining area.
The resident with the history of aggression was punching another resident in the head. The blows resulted in an open wound.
It’s unclear how the resident who was attacked ended up beside his attacker, the report says. More puzzling still, the injured resident was in the midst of receiving palliative care and “could not propel independently from the bedroom to the dining room.”
A ministry inspector interviewed all staff members working the lunch shift that day. None of them remembered who had brought the palliative care resident to the dining hall, and none of them could explain how that resident had ended up beside a resident with a known history of physical violence.
The palliative care resident died four days later, though not as a result of the attack, the report says.
A cognitively impaired resident at Extendicare Medex in Nepean was punched so hard by another resident that the impaired resident went flying three feet in the air, a July 2017 ministry report says. The resident was taken to hospital for treatment.
A resident at Madonna Care Community in Orleans was physically abused by a personal support worker twice in one shift, a July 2016 report reveals. The report doesn’t outline how the resident was abused, beyond saying the abuse led the resident to “moan” in pain. In each instance, the abuse was witnessed by another support worker who did not report the abuse until the following day.
A resident at Forest Hill in Kanata choked to death during a meal, a July 2013 report outlines. Staff members at the home noticed the resident had previously struggled eating, but decided to monitor the situation further. Eventually, staff members recommended a change to the resident’s diet as a preventive measure. The next day, before the changes were implemented, the resident choked to death.
A February 2016 report details how a personal support worker made a resident at Royal Ottawa Place, off Carling Avenue, sleep in a bed soiled with urine.
A resident at Hillel Lodge was transferred from bed by a personal support worker with the incorrect mechanical lift, a November 2014 report says. During the transfer, the resident fell to floor, fracturing a hip and sustaining a head injury. The resident died the next day.
An April 2013 report describes what happened to a resident at Carlingview Manor who showed up to dinner service late. A staff member told the resident that “There wasn’t enough left over to feed the latecomers.” The resident then asked, “What do I have to do, get on my hands and knees?” The staff member said yes. The resident began to get down on the floor to beg before the staff member told the resident she was only joking.
These examples are just a smattering of the numerous cases of abuse, neglect and death in Ottawa’s long-term care homes that have gone unreported.
Other cases are more well-known and have been documented by this newspaper, such as the 11-punch assault of Georges Karam at Garry J. Armstrong; the discovery of 85-year-old François Bisson, found dead in a pool of blood at Garry J. Armstrong; the violent death of Violet Lucas, found with her head wedged between her bed rail at Laurier Manor; and the death of Rita Normoyle, also at Laurier Manor, whose health went into a downward spiral following a verbal confrontation with a support worker that led to Normoyle falling hard to the ground.
Georges Karam, in his room at the Garry J Armstrong home in Ottawa. On Monday, the Citizen published a video showing a personal support worker repeatedly punching the 89-year-old.
All of these cases, however, only tell a partial story about the problems facing Ottawa’s long-term care homes.
That’s because only so much can be gleaned from the available data that raises questions that don’t have ready answers.
The number of non-compliance orders levied against Ottawa homes is a case-in-point example.
Why has there been a year-over-year upward trend?
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care couldn’t provide answers.
When told about the trend in non-compliance and number of cases of reported abuse uncovered by this newspaper, Health Minister Eric Hoskins provided an emailed statement that did not address those numbers.
The minister did note that the province recently passed a bill that allows for more stringent enforcement at long-term care homes, including substantial monetary fines for homes that are repeatedly found non-compliant.
“Ontario is a place we should all be comfortable to grow old in, and as minister I will not rest until this value is met and upheld in every long-term care home in Ontario,” Hoskins’ statement said.
Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins.
The minister’s words, however, do not help explain what’s happening in Ottawa.
But Jane Meadus, a lawyer for the Toronto-based Advocacy Centre for the Elderly and an expert in long-term care, said it’s not an easily explainable trend.
“I don’t really know why there has been an increase,” she says. “It’s hard to say. You could say it’s because there have been more inspections and more reporting or it could be that there’s more abuse. It’s hard to know from the pure numbers.”
The ministry hired 100 new inspectors in 2013, which certainly played a role, she said. Another factor is Ontario’s auditor general Bonnie Lysyk.
In 2015, Lysyk excorciated the province for failing to adequately inspect homes.
Lysyk found the province was slow in addressing complaints and critical incidents. She found tracking of complaints and critical incidents was inconsistent and inspection delays placed residents at risk.
Following Lysyk’s report, the number of non-compliance orders in Ottawa markedly increased in 2015 and 2016. Every home in the city, except five, had their worst year for non-compliance in either 2015 or 2016.
Another explanation could be the pressures facing the long-term care system, not just in Ottawa, but across the province.
Ontario’s ageing population and long-term care residents are older and sicker than they were a decade ago. The majority are over 85, almost three-quarters have some form of dementia, and most have mobility issues. Many need help with daily tasks such as eating, dressing and bathing.
As this newspaper’s health reporter, Elizabeth Payne, has previously reported, staffing has not kept up with the level of care required, leaving support workers and nurses rushed and residents and their families frustrated. Many families and residents praise what support workers and nurses do in long-term care homes, but say they are working within a system that is broken.
Earlier this year, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called on the government to do more on the long-term care file, saying the system “is in an absolute crisis and that needs to be addressed.”
Regardless of the reason for Ottawa’s jump in non-compliance since 2012, the raw data is concerning, Meadus says.
“That’s a huge number, no matter what the reasoning for it is,” she says. “It’s too many. It’s way too many. The number alone is too high.”
NDP Leader, Andrea Horwath.
The increase may in fact be a sign of something positive, though.
Lorraine Purdon, another expert in long-term care and the executive director of Family Councils Ontario, says she actually sees the rise in non-compliance as “good news.” That’s because it means that instances of non-compliance that may have been missed before are now being caught.
“I would also think that because of those inspections there has been more improvement in the overall care and safety of residents,” she says.
Purdon also says the non-compliance data can create a narrative devoid of context. The numbers only tell one side of the story, she says.
“My concern about the bad press about long-term care is that (the media) makes it sound dreadful, and while we certainly cannot be flippant about any kind of abuse, there are so many instances in long-term care of (homes being) an absolutely amazing place for people to be when they need it.”
But at the same time, with ministry reports, context is a two-sided coin, she says.
“Sometimes when there is a non-compliance, it’s really hard to tell exactly what went on and it’s really hard to tell if anything has been fixed,” she says.
And that is a major problem when it comes to understanding the scope of abuse that occurs in Ottawa homes.
Meadus says the 163 cases of reported abuse uncovered by this newspaper is a conservative estimate. The number is likely higher, she says.
“So much of it happens behind closed doors, residents are not able to report it themselves, so it will often require a third party to report something,” she says. “People in homes and their families are also afraid to report.”
Another issue with measuring abuse in homes is that ministry inspectors are not investigators, she says.
They look at the information provided to them by the home and use the information they gather from interviews with staff, but they don’t investigate a case in the same way a police officer would, Meadus says.
That creates multiple problems.
In numerous instances reviewed by this newspaper, the details in a reported abuse case were thin. Sometimes an abuse case only received a passing mention in a ministry report and the extent of what occurred, as well as any corrective action taken, went undocumented.
For example, a reported abuse case is outlined in a February 2014 ministry report following an inspection of Manoir Marochel, a long-term care home on Montreal Road.
The home was found non-compliant because the facility’s director was not immediately notified of a suspected case of abuse.
The report is a single paragraph:
“During an interview with the Administrator he indicated that he was made aware on a specific date in October 2013 by an individual that witnessed Staff S110 slap Resident #001 while providing care on a specific date in September 2013. The Critical Incident Report was completed and submitted to the Director on a specific date in October 2013; three days after the Administrator and Director of Care had reasonable grounds to suspect alleged physical abuse.”
No other details are provided. The incident is not mentioned in subsequent reports.
“It’s really difficult to tell what happened,” when reading reports, Meadus says. “I’ve seen reports that, unless I knew what actually happened, I couldn’t tell what happened.”
And cases of abuse might not become a part of the public record because of the roles of inspectors.
While a home has a mandatory duty to report allegations of patient abuse, if the facility did as it is required and reported the abuse, it could be found in compliance with provincial requirements — and the incident would not be mentioned in a non-compliance report.
Or, if there is a complaint and the situation is remedied by the time an inspector gets there, the home is considered to be in compliance, Meadus says.
In Ottawa, there are dozens of instances where this might have occurred since 2012.
Our review found 113 reports conducted by ministry inspectors where homes were inspected for non-compliance in relation to abuse or neglect. In each case, the inspected home was found compliant and no details from the inspector were published.
That could mean an additional 113 cases of reported abuse or none; it’s impossible to know.
Meadus uses the metaphor of a floating iceberg to describe what gets documented in ministry reports.
What we know is just the tip.
With files from Elizabeth Payne
Do you have a story about long-term care that you want to tell us about? Email Drake Fenton at dfenton@postmedia.com.
Homes respond to incidents of abuse
Multiple examples of reported abuse, neglect and death in long-term care homes were uncovered through this newspaper’s examination of long-term care facilities in Ottawa.
Homes that were mentioned were given a chance to comment about the the specific incidents documented by this newspaper.
Multiple homes responded, their comments are below:
Forest Hill and Garden Terrace:
Forest Hill and Garden Terrace are operated by OMNI Health Care.
Patrick McCarthy, president and CEO of OMNI Health Care, said in both examples cited by this newspaper, the ministry report documenting the non-compliance was accurate. In the example at Garden Terrace, he added that “The home assessed the resident involved for harm and provided care and attention, and contacted the family involved to keep them informed and to apologize for the delay in provision of care.
“In addition to the follow-up that occurred with the staff member involved, all staff members are provided with education and information annually in regards to the provision of care, resident rights, abuse and neglect, and other topics.”
McCarthy also said OMNI homes are “committed to the provision of quality care, and an extensive quality program has been implemented at all homes to monitor quality indicators, and identify and address areas of risk in order to provide the best possible care.”
Carlingview Manor
Carlingview Manor is operated by Revera Long-Term Care.
Brooke Allen, vice-president of operations for Revera, said the company is “committed to providing an environment in which all of our residents are treated with dignity and respect, in alignment with our own Code of Conduct and with the Residents’ Bill of Rights, as outlined in the Ontario Long-Term Care Homes Act.”
He said the 2013 incident documented by this newspaper did not meet the home’s standards and said the home “took steps to improve the operations at Carlingview Manor.”
He also said that company “conducts annual mandatory training for all staff in our long-term care homes on the Residents’ Bill of Rights.”
Extendicare Medex
Extendicare Medex is operated by Extendicare.
Tina Nault, administrator at Extendicare Medex, said the “health and safety of our residents is our top priority.”
Nault couldn’t comment on the specific incident reported by this newspaper, citing privacy concerns. However, Nault discussed an issue now facing the home.
“We have seen an increase in our home of residents who exhibit some form of aggressive behaviours (what we call responsive behaviours). Extendicare Medex collaborates with Behavioural Support Ontario (BSO) and works with BSO professionals who are tasked to develop care plan interventions for residents who exhibit responsive behaviours and to support the home and its staff in the application of these interventions,” Nault said.
“We are very fortunate to also have the support of other resources in the community; however, these resources are not available for residents under the age of 65. This poses a great challenge for residents and for our staff.”
Madonna Care Community
Madonna Care Community is operated by Sienna Senior Living.
Jennifer Powley, the home’s executive director, said “resident safety is our number one priority, and our team members are committed to ongoing learning and education that reflects best practices in long-term care.
“We remain focused on quality improvement and on helping residents live fully every day.”
dfenton@postmedia.com
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