Abuse can thrive in understaffed PCHs, especially for-profit ones, expert says in wake of Winnipeg allegations
CBC
A seniors' advocate is calling for a privately-owned personal care home's licence to be suspended and for the government to take over administration of the Winnipeg facility in the wake of allegations of abuse impacting 15 residents.
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said at a news conference Tuesday that it's investigating allegations of abuse by two care aides at Oakview Place, which is owned by Extendicare. The province and police are also investigating.
Eddie Calisto-Tavares says she feels heartbroken for the residents and families of the Sturgeon Heights personal care home, but also anger for the lack of accountability that allows wrongdoing to fester.
"For the apathy and the lack of action from both our government elected officials and the Winnipeg health region that continues to make excuses and allow for these for-profit homes to function," she said in an interview with CBC News on Thursday.
Calisto-Tavares's father, 88-year-old Manuel Calisto, was a resident of Maples Long Term Care, another privately-owned for-profit facility.
At Maples, 56 residents died from COVID-19 during an outbreak declared in October 2020. By the time it ended after nearly three months, 157 residents and 74 staff had been infected, according to a report commissioned by Manitoba Health.
Calisto-Tavares's father was among those who died in what she calls "Nightmare at Maples," when eight people died in a 48-hour period, resulting in a rapid response team being deployed.
A lack of staff is an ongoing problem in for-profit homes across the world.
For the last 15 years, Pat Armstrong has studied long-term care internationally and wrote a book on the privatization of personal care homes in 2020.
Throughout her studies, the distinguished research professor emeritus at York University says she's found that abuse thrives in personal care homes that are understaffed, and consistently the most understaffed facilities are privately-owned.
"If you're in that place to make money, your focus is on paying the least amount of money for care that you can in order to make a profit," Armstrong said.
"We have clear patterns of fewer staff around, and those staff that are there are paid less. They have less time to do things like support each other, less time to talk someone down or be talked down themselves."
Eventually, Armstrong thinks for-profit personal care homes will be phased out, but in the interim, governments should be proactive in terms of regular inspections rather than reactive when it comes to serious breaches of care.
She says interventions after abusive or neglectful situations in Canada and elsewhere have largely been ineffective because they were more about regulation rather than change.
Ferry crossings are cancelled and over a thousand households are left without power Saturday morning, due to high winds and severe weather conditions.
Tens of thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers are waking up without power on Saturday morning after high winds and rain hit the province on Friday night.
Statistics Canada is reporting a population decrease last quarter for New Brunswick — its largest quarterly decline since the 1970s, according to an economic development consultant.
Residents clapped, danced, sang and cried in the Anishinaabe community of Kitcisakik this week when the lights were finally turned on for the first time.
A man is suing three members of a Winnipeg family and a real estate broker he alleges used his intellectual disability to financially exploit him through property deals in Canada and India, leaving him out hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When Stephanie Gamble watched her mother model the first dress she made, smiling wide and walking an imaginary runway, she knew that was what she wanted to keep doing in her life.
'Tis the season for cuddling on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate and watching holiday movies. And for people in B.C.'s Interior, that can increasingly mean seeing their home communities on display.
Every year, snowy owls spread their wings and migrate down to the Prairies, where they enjoy access to plenty of rodent prey in vast open spaces.
This month has been a busy stretch at the Upper Room Food Bank in Charlottetown.
N.W.T. Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland says she has received the final report from an independent investigation into education bodies in the Dehcho region.
P.E.I.’s auditor general says he’s concerned and disappointed that the projected deficit has doubled what government initially estimated it would be — and he's urging the province to balance its budget.
A man found not criminally responsible for stabbing five people to death at a Calgary house party is getting more freedoms but not an absolute discharge.
A man has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of a Toronto mother outside a supervised consumption site in Leslieville.