Family of residents who may have been abused at Winnipeg care home disgusted by allegations

Families of people who live in a privately owned Winnipeg personal care home want to know why two care aides were allowed to work for months after allegations were brought forward that they had abused 15 residents.

A woman whose 92-year-old mother lives at Oakview Place, which is owned by Extendicare, was recently told her mother may have been one of the 15 residents who a whistleblower says were abused.

"They haven't told us exactly what it is that went on.... We're in the dark," said the daughter, whom CBC News has agreed not to name. "We don't know if it's verbal, we don't know if it's physical, we don't know if it's sexual."

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said at a news conference Tuesday that two care aides at Oakview Place in Winnipeg's Sturgeon Heights neighbourhood are under investigation.

The allegations were first brought to local Extendicare management by a whistleblower in February. However, the WRHA was not informed until it was approached directly by another whistleblower on June 10, a news release says.

WATCH | Allegations of abuse prompt police to investigate two care aides:

The daughter of the 92-year-old resident accuses Extendicare of covering up the abuse allegations.

"I'm disgusted, I'm sad, I'm upset for my mom. We put trust in this company."

Sandra Goers, the company's recently named Manitoba regional director and director of operational quality for Western Canada, said at the news conference on Tuesday that the company offered its apology to residents, staff and family members and had taken a number of steps to ensure everyone's safety.

Another woman, whom CBC News has agreed to keep anonymous, received a call on Monday night from someone from the personal care home notifying her that her father, who died earlier this year, may have been abused as well.

"It's ripping me apart that he had to go through that in his last days of life, and that we didn't know," she said.

The woman said her dad started to change about a year ago and would get aggressive when he was being changed. He would yell, "Don't touch me there, don't touch me there."

The family thought perhaps staff weren't changing his undergarments as often as they should, but now she wonders if he might have been sexually abused, because he complained of pain in his rear end.

She was not told what kind of abuse her father suffered but she is haunted by the thought that his last days were marred in that way.