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The long-term care resident was sitting in the chapel, in a wheelchair, when another resident approached and began kissing, fondling and exposing body parts.
The following day in January 2015, the victim told a housekeeping aide at Residence Saint-Louis, the Ottawa long-term care home where they both lived, about the assault. The victim (whose age and gender is not revealed in a Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care report) grasped the housekeeper’s hand and pleaded with her not to leave because the person responsible for the assault was sitting nearby. The housekeeping assistant promised to come back, but never did.
That scenario would be repeated at the Ottawa long-term care home, which is part of Bruyère Continuing Care, over the following months, as the resident with a “known history of sexual behaviours” again assaulted or attempted to assault other residents, despite internal and external investigations and reports.
The resident responsible for the behaviours died at the end of 2015.
This type of resident-on-resident assault — including sexual assaults and violence that, in some cases, has resulted in death — is a shocking reality of long-term care in Ontario.
According to research, resident-to-resident aggression makes up nearly one-third of all reported incidents in long-term care homes.
In Ottawa, there have been 83 cases of resident-to-resident incidents in long-term care since 2012, according to data compiled from Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care reports. The abuse detailed was physical, verbal and emotional in nature.
During the same period, there were 75 reported cases of staff-on-resident abuse in Ottawa and five cases that involved a third party and a resident.
The issue has been the subject of concern for years — but it continues, say long-term care officials and researchers.
Between 2013 and 2015 alone, there were 13 homicides in Ontario’s long-term care homes. One high-profile case took place in Ottawa’s Peter D. Clark facility where an 84-year-old man was beaten to death by an 88-year-old in 2009. Both men suffered from Alzheimer’s.
The homicide numbers have, rightly, grabbed the attention of policy makers and others, but assaults happen much more frequently in the form of shoves, inappropriate and violent behaviour.
The aggressive acts between residents are often referred to as responsive behaviours and may result from frustration on the part of a resident or an inability to communicate. Not all cases of violence fall into that category.
The province has taken action, in the form of behavioral response support teams that help train staff to prevent acts of aggression. But until there are more staff in long-term care homes, there is little hope that resident-to-resident violence will be dramatically reduced, according to experts — especially given rising rates of dementia among the elderly.
“Cognitive issues are very seriously behind most of this,” said Lynn McDonald, a University of Toronto sociology professor and co-director of the Institute for Human Development, Life Course and Aging.
The province has begun expanding special training to deal with dementia patients with behavioural issues.
But a key problem in many cases, said McDonald, is how seriously management takes the issue and whether it makes zero tolerance for abuse a priority. Adequate staffing levels are part of that commitment.
Bob Morton, chief executive officer of AdvanteAge Ontario, the organization that represents not-for-profit long-term care homes in the province, agreed that rising rates of cognitive impairment among long-term care residents are associated with more behavioural issues, including assaults.
Not only do long-term care homes need more staff to deal with increasingly complex resident care, he said, but they need different physical layouts to better manage patients with cognitive difficulties.
Morton said long-term care residences have long been divided into groupings of 32 residents who share common areas. That came about in the 1990s, he said, and was part of a move to make long-term care residences more home-like. But rising dementia rates call for smaller groupings of patients in long-term care homes, he said. Groups of 20 or less would be more manageable for staff and less stressful for residents.
None of that can happen without an influx of new money from the province. It has already vowed to insure all residents get a minimum of four hours of care a day, something Morton believes will significantly increase staff levels.
Meanwhile, assaults continue to be a reality of long-term care in the province.
In Ottawa, Residence Saint-Louis received a non-compliance order from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for the failure of staff to report the January 2015 assault promptly. The inspector noted that the residence had a history of non-compliance when it came to immediately reporting alleged abuses of residents, in contravention with a zero-tolerance policy.
The long-term care home was ordered to ensure its residents were protected from abuse, make sure any incidents are reported immediately and retrain and monitor staff to ensure compliance.
But months later, there were more abuses by the same resident, who was supposed to be under one-on-one supervision. One personal support worker, for example, who was supposed to be watching the resident full time, had left the room to bring other residents to lunch when the resident began sexually touching someone nearby.
Officials with Bruyère Continuing Care say the long-term care home is now compliant with regulations involving abuse and neglect and others cited as part of the sexual assault investigation. It has also overhauled management, appointing Melissa Donskov, executive director of long-term care with Bruyère Continuing Care, as top administrator at Residence Saint-Louis earlier this year.
“We take every case seriously,” said Amy Porteus, vice-president of public affairs with Bruyère.
Cases like this one have focused attention on the issue in recent years. But there is still much to be done, said Lynn McDonald.
“People in long-term care homes represent our frailest and most vulnerable members of society and deserve the best of care,” she wrote.
“But if this is the case, why are the rates of physical, verbal and sexual assaults so high? This is unacceptable.”
查看原文...
The following day in January 2015, the victim told a housekeeping aide at Residence Saint-Louis, the Ottawa long-term care home where they both lived, about the assault. The victim (whose age and gender is not revealed in a Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care report) grasped the housekeeper’s hand and pleaded with her not to leave because the person responsible for the assault was sitting nearby. The housekeeping assistant promised to come back, but never did.
That scenario would be repeated at the Ottawa long-term care home, which is part of Bruyère Continuing Care, over the following months, as the resident with a “known history of sexual behaviours” again assaulted or attempted to assault other residents, despite internal and external investigations and reports.
The resident responsible for the behaviours died at the end of 2015.
This type of resident-on-resident assault — including sexual assaults and violence that, in some cases, has resulted in death — is a shocking reality of long-term care in Ontario.
According to research, resident-to-resident aggression makes up nearly one-third of all reported incidents in long-term care homes.
In Ottawa, there have been 83 cases of resident-to-resident incidents in long-term care since 2012, according to data compiled from Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care reports. The abuse detailed was physical, verbal and emotional in nature.
During the same period, there were 75 reported cases of staff-on-resident abuse in Ottawa and five cases that involved a third party and a resident.
The issue has been the subject of concern for years — but it continues, say long-term care officials and researchers.
Between 2013 and 2015 alone, there were 13 homicides in Ontario’s long-term care homes. One high-profile case took place in Ottawa’s Peter D. Clark facility where an 84-year-old man was beaten to death by an 88-year-old in 2009. Both men suffered from Alzheimer’s.
The homicide numbers have, rightly, grabbed the attention of policy makers and others, but assaults happen much more frequently in the form of shoves, inappropriate and violent behaviour.
The aggressive acts between residents are often referred to as responsive behaviours and may result from frustration on the part of a resident or an inability to communicate. Not all cases of violence fall into that category.
The province has taken action, in the form of behavioral response support teams that help train staff to prevent acts of aggression. But until there are more staff in long-term care homes, there is little hope that resident-to-resident violence will be dramatically reduced, according to experts — especially given rising rates of dementia among the elderly.
“Cognitive issues are very seriously behind most of this,” said Lynn McDonald, a University of Toronto sociology professor and co-director of the Institute for Human Development, Life Course and Aging.
The province has begun expanding special training to deal with dementia patients with behavioural issues.
But a key problem in many cases, said McDonald, is how seriously management takes the issue and whether it makes zero tolerance for abuse a priority. Adequate staffing levels are part of that commitment.
Bob Morton, chief executive officer of AdvanteAge Ontario, the organization that represents not-for-profit long-term care homes in the province, agreed that rising rates of cognitive impairment among long-term care residents are associated with more behavioural issues, including assaults.
Not only do long-term care homes need more staff to deal with increasingly complex resident care, he said, but they need different physical layouts to better manage patients with cognitive difficulties.
Morton said long-term care residences have long been divided into groupings of 32 residents who share common areas. That came about in the 1990s, he said, and was part of a move to make long-term care residences more home-like. But rising dementia rates call for smaller groupings of patients in long-term care homes, he said. Groups of 20 or less would be more manageable for staff and less stressful for residents.
None of that can happen without an influx of new money from the province. It has already vowed to insure all residents get a minimum of four hours of care a day, something Morton believes will significantly increase staff levels.
Meanwhile, assaults continue to be a reality of long-term care in the province.
In Ottawa, Residence Saint-Louis received a non-compliance order from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for the failure of staff to report the January 2015 assault promptly. The inspector noted that the residence had a history of non-compliance when it came to immediately reporting alleged abuses of residents, in contravention with a zero-tolerance policy.
The long-term care home was ordered to ensure its residents were protected from abuse, make sure any incidents are reported immediately and retrain and monitor staff to ensure compliance.
But months later, there were more abuses by the same resident, who was supposed to be under one-on-one supervision. One personal support worker, for example, who was supposed to be watching the resident full time, had left the room to bring other residents to lunch when the resident began sexually touching someone nearby.
Officials with Bruyère Continuing Care say the long-term care home is now compliant with regulations involving abuse and neglect and others cited as part of the sexual assault investigation. It has also overhauled management, appointing Melissa Donskov, executive director of long-term care with Bruyère Continuing Care, as top administrator at Residence Saint-Louis earlier this year.
“We take every case seriously,” said Amy Porteus, vice-president of public affairs with Bruyère.
Cases like this one have focused attention on the issue in recent years. But there is still much to be done, said Lynn McDonald.
“People in long-term care homes represent our frailest and most vulnerable members of society and deserve the best of care,” she wrote.
“But if this is the case, why are the rates of physical, verbal and sexual assaults so high? This is unacceptable.”
查看原文...
