WUNRN
Link to Power Point:
Violence Against Older Women - Power
Point
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CANADA - GROWING CRISIS FOR CARE OF
ELDERLY + SAFETY FROM VIOLENCE
SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Imag
Late on
Wednesday night, a tragedy in
Residents told reporters that the suspect, Peter Brooks,
was known for outbursts, and that he had been moved to a more secure ward of
the facility. It has also been reported that the facility’s security staff do
not work during the night, when the incident occurred, and that even the secure
wards are only staffed by two nurses each. Facility administrators have
declined to comment, but union representatives for the nurses claim that a
report detailing Mr. Brook’s increasingly violent behaviour was submitted in recent
weeks.
This sad story brings to mind too many other such
incidents that have occurred in Canadian nursing homes and long-term care
facilities in recent years. Resident-on-resident violence in care facilities is
not tracked at a national level. But an investigation by CTV News earlier this
year discovered at least 6,500 such incidents occurred in
Extrapolating the available statistics to the national
population, however, provided an estimate of 10,000 resident-on-resident
violent incidents each year. Even more troubling, they discovered evidence that
for every reported incident, three others may go unrecorded by overworked staff
who’d prefer to skip the paperwork.
These are alarming figures, and Canadians can count on
the number growing higher as the population ages. And it is increasingly clear
that our nursing homes, long-term care facilities and specialized-care wards
are simply not prepared to cope with what is to come.
The problem is especially serious in situations where an
elderly resident remains physically robust and mobile, but suffers from
dementia, which can produce unpredictable, sometimes dangerous, behavioural
changes.
This is a tragedy for their loved ones to behold, but
also puts tremendous strains on a system that is already struggling to meet the
basic needs of the elderly and the infirm. Patients in need of long-term care
frequently remain in hospitals for lack of space in an appropriate facility,
which in turn consumes scarce healthcare resources that would be better spent
healing the sick and injured.
The story of
This is an extreme example, as is this week’s incident in
Improvements are needed, and fast. But cash-strapped
governments have only a limited ability to devote more funding to long-term
care. Privately owned care facilities should immediately make improvements to
their security arrangements, and for publicly owned or supported institutions —
especially those that care for potentially violent patients — if additional
security cannot be afforded, we would hope that our police forces would step up
and make sure that some of our most vulnerable citizens are properly secured.
No one wishes to see our care facilities turned into
security zones. But elderly Canadians have a right to live out their final
years in dignity and security. Behavioural issues among our aging population is
a tragedy we cannot afford to ignore.