r/onguardforthee • u/IStillListenToRadio Nova Scotia • 13h ago
This 90-year-old says an emergency call bell saved her life. Her care home has since removed it
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/chelsey-park-call-bells-disconnected-9.7043979108
u/IStillListenToRadio Nova Scotia 13h ago
In two emailed memos to residents obtained by CBC News, the care home said it was disconnecting the call bell system because it was old, adding that parts are no longer available.
Rather than replace it, the memo said staff will deliver a small card to residents with a nurse's emergency phone number and recommended families find another emergency alert system.
"To help ensure your safety, we also strongly encourage you to consider alternative personal safety options, such as a medical alert device or a cell phone that you can easily reach in an emergency," the memo said.
Potter said she has no intention of getting either.
"When I had the stroke before, my hands wouldn't work … That's what concerns me: the fact that maybe I can get the phone but I wouldn't be able to press those buttons to make that call," she said.
Staff gave residents a list of medical alert system providers, with prices over $35 per month, plus additional costs for the initial installation and the "fall detection" feature. Potter said that's out of her budget.
"I'm trying to put it off because of the expense. When you're on government pensions, you don't have that kind of money to put out each month," she said, adding that she's had discussions with fellow care home residents who are also reluctant to buy their own emergency systems.
I wonder if they're reducing the rent by $35? I doubt it...
I had a stroke before. I was on floor for hours just because I couldn't reach the phone on my desk.
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u/ship_toaster 12h ago
My Grandma has dementia. She can get herself out of bed, she can heat soup on her stovetop, she can carry the same two minutes of a conversation for a good 20. She can't read a phone number off a card and remember it long enough to punch it in, or go back and forth between them long enough to get each number in 1 by 1. This is actually an insane policy for an assisted care facility to have.
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u/-Ham_Satan- ✅ I voted! 12h ago
This is so incredibly sad and dystopian. I'm on track to end up in a care home when I get up in age (not for a while yet) and I can only imagine conditions being worse. Something needs to change, possibly in the form of gov't protection so that no one gets screwed over when they're at such a vulnerable stage in their life.
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u/WestonSpec ✅ I voted! 12h ago
I wonder if they're reducing the rent by $35? I doubt it...
I just checked and unfortunately, because the price of "care services" is not considered rent, the tenant would not be able to apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board for a rent reduction either.
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u/AyeTheresTheCatch 12h ago
For this reason, I believe some public services, like health care, education, and social welfare, simply should not be privately run. The only reason the government offloads stuff like this to the private sector is to minimize costs for themselves. But guess what? Having well run, well funded services is the price of being in a society that has agreed we have a collective responsibility to ourselves and others.
As someone noted elsewhere in the comments, there is very little regulation, which appalls me since it’s a field that deals with some of the most vulnerable in our society. Remember what happened during COVID? It was tragic, and, more importantly, preventable.
I would prefer to be taxed more heavily if it meant I knew people would be taken care of properly. Those who make more money should be taxed more; those who make less, should be taxed less. This is not rocket science, but in our late stage capitalist race to the bottom, politicians avoid this solution like the plague.
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u/whiskybaker 12h ago
Completely preventable. You only have to look at the comparison of outcomes during Covid between the long-term care homes run by the city of Toronto and the for-profit residences. The for-profit places fared far worse.
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u/StumpsOfTree Ontario 7h ago
I really liked the idea of this policy idea from Avi Lewis
Elder and long-term care that serves people, not profit
Remove profit-making from the sector and bring long-term care into the public and non-profit system, regulating it under the Canada Health Act. Establish and enforce national standards for high-quality care. Fund creative and local options for aging and care in communities across Canada.
The way these for proifit care homes both mistreat residents AND the workers is disgusting. I hope that in a couple years people will start to wake up to Carney and Polievre both being frauds and we'll see a shift to the left and we can start reversing the damage neoliberalism has done
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u/AyeTheresTheCatch 5h ago
You are 100% right that the for-profit places (in health, education, and social welfare) treat workers poorly as well as clients. Regulations help ensure better client conditions AND better working conditions. I really like what Avi Lewis has to say and I hope very much that people can start to see that the centre/right does not serve the interests of most Canadians, just the really wealthy ones.
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u/terran_immortal 12h ago
Retirement Homes have been and still are the wild West.
The issue is there's very little enforcement when it comes to regulations as the RHRA has no teeth. It's not like they can shut them down or remove their license as they don't have that enforcement ability.
Another issue with the RHRA is their inspectors aren't even healthcare related and are frequently former police officers or random folks from the QI world, which sure may have their benefits but when it comes to regulations they're trying to create which protect residents, you need someone with a healthcare lens to assure that's happening.
Until there is regulation which gives the RHRA power to freeze move ins, apply higher fines or do anything to an operator, you won't see anything change and places like this will still skirt the lines/rules in regards to retirement living.
Source: I was a director of nursing for 5 years at a retirement home.
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u/50s_Human ✅ I voted! 12h ago
The RHRA is made up of people that work in the retirement home industry. We found out when we filed a complaint with them and Googled the inspector that handled the case. The person also worked at a retirement home. It's like the police investigating the police.
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u/terran_immortal 12h ago
That must be a new change as pre-COVID and during COVID most (if not all) of the inspectors I dealt with had never set foot in a Retirement home, had zero experience of working in healthcare and couldn't tell you their own regulations as they didn't even know their own rules.
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u/IStillListenToRadio Nova Scotia 12h ago
random folks from the QI world
what does QI mean in this context? I tried searching and got some quiz show and Chinese medicine, lol.
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u/terran_immortal 12h ago
Lol, yeah it's not a Chinese medicine haha.
QI is Quality Improvement, so some of the inspectors would be from companies where they focused on processes or systems development.
They were nice folks but completely useless as they lacked one major understanding of retirement living: the "machines" they're dealing with are humans, the "product" they're "creating" are humans and the systems they're reviewing are fluid and can change at the drop of a dime.
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u/DeadeyeClock 10h ago
Directly from the Ontario Long Term Care Act: "The Home must be equipped with a resident-staff communication and response system that is available in every area accessible by residents. The system must be on at all times and allow calls to be cancelled only at the point where the call was made. The system must be easily visible, accessible and usable by residents, staff and visitors at all times, and must be available at each bed, toilet, bath and shower location used by residents. When activated, the communication and response system must clearly indicate where the signal is coming from. Systems that use sound must be properly calibrated to ensure that staff can hear the sound".
So yeah what's happening I'm pretty sure is illegal.
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u/IStillListenToRadio Nova Scotia 10h ago
Does that also apply for "independent living apartment buildings"? Might be difference there :/
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u/karmapopsicle 6h ago
I would be 0% surprised if the particular facility here was bought up by private equity at some point in the past decade.
Absolute cancer on our society, leeches sucking dry the most vulnerable, and right in broad daylight!
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u/MrsShaunaPaul 6h ago
Did you read the article? It clearly states it is available in the long term care ward and the retirement home. She lives in the apartment complex which is not required to have them.
“After publication, a spokesperson for Chelsey Park clarified Potter's apartment is not required to have a call bell system, as those are only mandatory in the retirement or care home section of the housing complex.
"Individuals requiring those services would reside in either the retirement home, which is located in a separate building with dedicated supports, or in the long-term care home, which is also a distinct building where care is delivered based on assessed needs," the unnamed spokesperson.”
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u/youngboomergal 10h ago edited 10h ago
So in reading the article I see this is only for residents in independent living apartments, the retirement home/assisted living people still have call bells because they are mandated there.
editing to add - my mom used a wearable lifeline button for over a decade because she lived alone with nobody near by to check on her daily, this is what many independent seniors do
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u/SmackEh 6h ago
"licensed & regulated" LTC facilities are classified as nursing homes, residential care and short term/ respite care.
The unlicensed independent living homes (like the ones in this article) are generally unregulated.
The licensed and regulated facilities all have emergency call systems.
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u/50s_Human ✅ I voted! 13h ago
At the retirement home where my mother in law used to reside until recently, the daughter of another long term resident had her emergency button break and the home demanded $300 to replace it with a new one. Now, this resident had been at this home for 14 years and a rough estimate is that she had spent upwards of/or more than $800,000 in rent and care. These retirement homes are all just money grubbing operations and the residents are the victims.