| | Updated Fri. Feb. 6 2004 11:34 AM ET |
| | | | | | Amanda LaPierre, a worker at Charlotte Villa, raises her fist to Norma Stenson | |
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| | | | | | | | Photo of bruising Norma suffered at Charlotte Villa | |
| | | | | | Amanda LaPierre (left) heading into court | |
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Help Me: Elder abuse in Canada CTV.ca News Staff Norma Stenson had been living in a retirement home in Brantford, Ontario for just a month when her supplemental caregivers ? who provide extra nursing care that is not provided by the home -- first began to notice the signs. ?There were just little complaints,? says Jean Bowen. Norma, a frail 87-year-old who has suffered several strokes, doesn?t have an easy time communicating, but Bowen could tell she wasn?t happy at Charlotte Villa Retirement Residence. Still, the home was considered to be one of the best in the city and she urged her client to give the facility the benefit of the doubt. ?I said, ?OK, everybody might not be happy with where they live.? So I talked to her about it, (I told her to) give it a chance because it?s a new place.? But it quickly became clear that Norma was being abused. ?She indicated by using my arms (that) she was shaken and tossed. ? By March it was getting worse ? she wasn?t being shaken anymore, she was being maybe hit somehow ? just little bruises to start with. She indicated at one point that she was hit in the stomach, and I honestly believe she was because she could hardly move for a couple of weeks.? When the bruises kept appearing, Bowen and Norma?s other caregiver, Lesley Anthony, approached the director of care at Charlotte Villa. They were given excuses: Norma had fallen out of her wheelchair, she had hit herself on the bed rail, she was lying. ?The director of care ? hollered at me how I was too good to this woman, how I spoiled this woman, and it was about time that this lady gets treated the way the rest of them thought she should be treated,? says Bowen. Then employees at Charlotte Villa countered with complaints of their own, saying Norma had attacked a pregnant worker named Amanda LaPierre. She was accused of saying, ?I want to kill your unborn baby child,? and of kicking LaPierre in the stomach. ?She hasn?t put a sentence together in over seven years, so that was impossible,? says Bowen. ?It was impossible for her to kick that high, it was impossible for her to even speak a whole sentence and threaten Amanda to begin with. It was just impossible ? I mean, if she could talk, she would talk to me every day.? With management at Charlotte Villa unwilling to acknowledge the abuse, Bowen and Anthony decided to take photos of Norma?s bruises to the police. But they were told the photos proved nothing, and with Norma unable to speak on her own behalf, there was nothing they could do. So Norma?s two caregivers decided to take matters into their own hands, planting a hidden camera in her room. They thought it would take a while before they captured any incriminating footage. ?Norma was complaining every day, but we thought maybe it was just old age, maybe she had dementia. ? We didn?t ever expect it would be eight days straight right from day one ? we never expected it.? Caught on camera was tape after tape of footage of Norma being thrown into bed, screamed at, threatened with fists and a slipper. The video also revealed workers helping themselves to Norma?s food and to money from her wallet. Bowen says the footage made her feel ?physically ill.? ?We couldn?t just shut it off. As professionals, which we both are, we never dreamed that this was going on. I guess you hear about it, but to see it was hard.? Armed with this new evidence, Bowen and Anthony went to the police again. Sgt. Dave Wiedrick was assigned to the case. After viewing the videos, he says: ?I was shocked. If this had been a relative of mine, I would have been very upset.? Charges were laid against two Charlotte Villa employees: LaPierre, who was charged with four counts of assault and two counts of theft; and Shelley Grisdale, who was charged with one count of assault and two counts of theft. LaPierre pleaded guilty but claimed self-defence, and was sentenced to two years of probation and 240 hours of community service. Grisdale?s verdict has yet to be decided. After the abuse Norma experienced at Charlotte Villa was exposed, Bowen and Anthony helped her to move into another home called Versa Care. Unlike Charlotte Villa, Versa Care is a long-term care facility, so it?s regulated by the provincial government and subject to strict laws about reporting abuse. Bowen and Anthony thought Norma?s experience there would be different ? but they were wrong. Shortly after she arrived there, Norma indicated to Bowen and Anthony that she was being shaken. The complaints prompted the women to reinstall their hidden camera, and while what they saw wasn?t as bad as the eight days in Charlotte Villa, over a period of months, they did see what they believed was abuse. In one incident that occurred one morning at 4 a.m., a caregiver appears to shake Norma and then toss her into her wheelchair, finally slamming her arm against the chair. Bowen and Anthony say that episode left a bruise on Norma?s forearm that took weeks to heal. The pair was afraid to take this new evidence to Versa Care?s management, for fear they would be labeled troublemakers and barred from the facility. So they took the footage to the police. But this time, the Crown decided the incidents captured on film didn?t constitute assault, which is a criminal offence. The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care investigated and reached the finding that no abuse had occurred. But the camera had recorded other incidents, including theft and one episode where a caregiver covered Norma?s face with a pillow and left her. Anthony says it came as a shock to learn that the Criminal Code didn?t encompass these types of behaviours. ?As a caregiver, you?re taught from day one, abuse is anything from verbal ? you cannot threaten verbally; you cannot intimidate; you cannot shake; you cannot toss; you can?t even tip them up from a prone position to a standing position without stopping. All those are supposed to be abuse and criminal.? W-FIVE tried to ask Debbie Bonney, the director of Versa Care, about Norma?s treatment at the facility, but she denied our request. Later at our invitation, Donna Kingelin, the vice president of long term care at Central Park Lodges -- the company that operates both Charlotte Villa and Versa Care ? came to our offices together with company officials to view hidden camera footage. While officials at Versa Care had previously concluded Norma was not being abused under their care, Kingelin quickly changed her opinion. ?When we walked out of your building after viewing those tapes,? she said, ?we called the home. We found the staff that we saw on those videos, we asked if they were on. We sent them home immediately ? we didn?t waste a minute to act.? Kingelin had no explanation for the sudden change of heart, and she stood by the thoroughness of Central Park Lodge?s internal investigation. ?We take every complaint seriously,? she said. ?There is nothing that we won?t do to ensure the safety of our residents, and we?ll always be diligent and always do the best thing for our residents.? But abuse is happening to others too. Statistics Canada reports as many as seven per cent of all seniors are abused. And seniors? advocates say our laws still need to catch up to the seriousness of the problem. In Canada, not one province has regulations covering abuse in retirement homes. In Ontario, there is a group that tries to set standards for these communities, but membership and compliance aren?t mandatory. ?Our association accredits about 60 per cent of the retirement home beds in the province of Ontario,? says Gord White, executive director of the Ontario Residential Care Association. ?That means 60 per cent are inspected, there?s a review, they have policies and procedures. That also means 40 per cent are not ? and as you can see, that?s a huge gap.? While Ontario?s minister responsible for seniors has promised ORCA that he will legislate changes in the system, for now, Ontario ? like the rest of Canada ? remains unregulated. ?In an unregulated system, ? you?re counting on the goodwill of the company that?s providing you with services and the staff and the administration,? Judith Wahl, president of the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, told W-FIVE. ?In a regulated system, you have the scrutiny of an independent third eye and I think that?s very important. ?I think these kinds of incidents are the tip of the iceberg,? she adds. ?I think these illustrate that we need to look at these issues much more comprehensively and make service changes and legislative changes.? In the meantime, it remains difficult to tell what goes on behind the closed doors of retirement and nursing homes and many seniors ? especially those who don?t have family who can provide home care ? are at the mercy of the system. Unless, of course, they?re lucky enough to have friends like Bowen and Anthony. ?You know, this is not a client-caregiver relationship,? says Anthony.? And there?s no going back to that at this point. There?s no way of turning our backs and walking away.? | 
