EDMONTON — An Alberta senior has gone public with allegations of misery, physical abuse and substandard living conditions at a long-term care centre.
Beverley Munro says staff in her ward at the Edmonton General Hospital physically manhandle her to get her to bed, and three months ago ripped her earlobe when her dressing gown got caught in her earring.
“She just gave it a rip and off came the bottom of the ear,” Munro said Tuesday at a news conference called by the NDP at the legislature.
Staff took too long in dressing the wound and her ear will now be permanently disfigured, she said.
“I thought somebody should do something. There are other people in there. You can’t just rip people around.”
Munro said there are other problems at the facility, which is run by Covenant Health for the province. A Covenant spokesperson wasn’t available for comment.
Munro, 65, lost her left leg to gangrene four years ago and also has restricted mobility on one side due to a stroke.
She said the doors are manually operated, which makes it difficult to get around in her wheelchair. The hallways have been lined with tarps for years to hide buckets catching rain water from leaky roofs.
The elevator goes on the fritz three times a month, she said, leaving her trapped inside for over an hour at one point.
Staff hustle patients around, sometimes physically manhandling or grabbing them by their clothing, Munro said. Mason showed recent pictures of the tarps in the hallways and suggested that despite comments from Premier Alison Redford’s government that seniors are a priority, Munro’s living conditions are not unique.
“The care for seniors in this province is appallingly bad in many instances,” said Mason.
“Short staffing is the common thread here. People are not getting adequate nutrition. People are not getting bathed. People are not being treated with dignity.”
Health Minister Fred Horne said he hadn’t heard specific concerns about Munro’s ward, but acknowledged: “It is an aging facility. I think everyone in the city knows that. And there are infrastructure challenges there like there are in many of our continuing-care facilities.
“I’d have to take a look specifically at what the concern is.”
Horne noted the province has allocated $5 billion in capital spending for health care.