Summerland Seniors Village Problem

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my5cents
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Summerland Seniors Village Problem

Post by my5cents »

It was reported on today's (29Nov 2012) CTV noon news that 92 year old Alfredo Bonaldi was found unconscious, near death in his room at the Summerland Seniors Village. He was found unconscious laying in his own excrement after being attending for meals for days. He is in Penticton Regional Hospital being treated for kidney failure.
The alarm was sounded by other seniors, who noticed that he had not come down for meals for days, but it wasn't staff that found him in his room at the facility, it was his family.

The care facility was recently taken over by Retirement Concepts in the summer of 2012.

You'd think there would be a system to check on the residents if they stop showing up for meals ?
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0gopogo
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

Post by 0gopogo »

Other seniors noticed he hadn't gone for meals?? Who did they tell this to.
I really can't see a staff member ignoring this IF it was properly reported to them. Somethings not right here.......
my5cents
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

Post by my5cents »

0gopogo wrote:Other seniors noticed he hadn't gone for meals?? Who did they tell this to.
I really can't see a staff member ignoring this IF it was properly reported to them. Somethings not right here.......


That's what was reported on CTV at noon. http://bc.ctvnews.ca/video?playlistId=1.1059384. It's a few minutes into the news cast.

It's my understanding that the dietary serving staff should take note of who's not at a meal and report same to the nursing staff.

That comes from a former employee of the previous company what ran this facility.
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my5cents
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

Post by my5cents »

Does anyone, other than me, think it's strange that this local Okanagan story was not reported on CHBC "The Okangan's Very Own", but was on Vancouver based CTV ?
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gambler
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

Post by gambler »

After watching the CTV video, I tuned into CHBC news tonight to hear more because it's really hard to fathom this happening. Like you my5cents, I was surprised to see nothing about this story.

So now I'm going hmmm..... Maybe the story was not as CTV presented it? Maybe CHBC didn't see it the same way as CTV? Or maybe more info has come to light?

Who knows, but it will be interesting to see if there is any more news on this tomorrow. If true (as presented on CTV), I can't imagine this story being swept under the rug by our local media. At least I would hope not. Anyone with family in a senior's or care home, should sit up and take notice.
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

Post by Wally »

My mother spent the last few years of her life in a care home that always seemed very good to me. Stories like this make me want to kick the teeth out of someone responsible for this, not to constructive, but thats my feelings.
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Queen K
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

Post by Queen K »

This is a very difficult story on several levels.

Unfortunately from the website of Summerland Senior Village it is unclear if the this is a fully INDEPENDENT living resort retirement living arrangement

OR,

a CARE FACILITY offering 24/7 nursing staff.

Or some clever blend.


And before the pitchfork mob comes out and demands to know how this could have happened, the answer is it depends upon the signed contractual living arrangement the unfortunate man had with the facility.

I know it's difficult to fathom this but yes it can make a difference. It can even make a difference if the staff at such a home is consistent or not, ie. who made a report to whom and when those reports get passed down to whom.

Listen up, independent living seniors homes are not nursing facilities but OFTEN get mixed up as being facilities with 24/7 healthcare professionals on staff.

Independent living contracts offer food/lodging/entertainment/transport/housekeeping. NOT nursing. The staff is not even allowed to give so much as a tylenol. No medical attention WHATSOEVER.

As for someone not making it down for meals on a consistent basis, that is a cause for great concern. There may be independent living policies to physically check rooms when a resident misses a meal. And guess what, a well trained person who is not in a hurry will not just use a master key and stick their head in the door. They will go through a whole room check including: bathroom, walk-in closet, behind all heavy furniture and balcony. That is a thorough room check, and nothing less.

One of the most difficult aspects to this case is that we just don't know if the genteman in question was thought to have been taken out by his family or not. And if so, that would not have been the business of those asking where he was at mealtimes. Just because they all sit at the same table, doesn't make everything about their mealtime partners automatically everyones business. I know this may be difficult to wrap around some peoples minds.

I would like to know a LOT more about the Villages policies, what agreements the families have signed and if it may be a practise to sign out at a desk when leaving or if the entire place is barrier free, meaning, while it may be prudent to let staff know if you are leaving for a period of time, you don't HAVE to. That may be a factor here. If staff thought the fellow was out or not is a huge factor.

Let me put it a different way, these places are hotbeds of activity, people coming and going all the time. Many times they are Peyton Place, where everyone knows your name and business, but not everyone wants it like that. This may be a case of very unfortunate circumstances where someone thought he was away and didn't feel the need to do a roomcheck, especially if he is in INDEPENDENT living arrangements.

I know that is going to fly in the face of some peoples emotions.
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ferri
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

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cubafreak
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

Post by cubafreak »

My problem with this story is that, where were the children of this man that it tooks how long before any notice was taken? If it was my Mom it would have not gone more than a day...max two.........she would not have have been neglegted
glassmaster
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

Post by glassmaster »

Regardless of whether or not the family was visiting regularly .... the staff of the facility are the ones entrusted to the patient care. There is no excuse for the neglect.
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johnhenry
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

Post by johnhenry »

cubafreak wrote:My problem with this story is that, where were the children of this man that it tooks how long before any notice was taken? If it was my Mom it would have not gone more than a day...max two.........she would not have have been neglegted


Not all children live in the same area as the parents.
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gambler
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

Post by gambler »

Interesting post Queenie. I think you explained it well. There are many details left out of this story.

I too noticed the Independent Living sign on the CTV video and wondered just what kind of care his family could expect there. The Castanet article (which came from CTV) mentions the "dementia people" so I imagine there is some support there as dementia people couldn't be expected to live there without support. It could be that there are different levels of care offered to different people. Without knowing what kind of care this gentleman's family negotiated for him, we don't know where the system failed him.

It will be interesting to see how the investigation pans out. Any way you look at it though, it's a tragic thing to happen to anyone living in a senior's or care home.
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Queen K
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

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glassmaster wrote:Regardless of whether or not the family was visiting regularly .... the staff of the facility are the ones entrusted to the patient care. There is no excuse for the neglect.


I know seniors in independent living arrangements who get a phone call every morning from their kids.

The children, usually in thier 60s arrange amongst themselves who calls when. If there are two of them, they divide up the daily phoning by the year or the month. Now mom or dad can expect a call from "Darlene" all of December and "Joan" all of January.

And make no mistake, with Skye, cell phones and most "kids" actually being retired themselves, it's a very do-able situation. What a wonderful CHRISTMAS GIFT to someone who's 90 and does not need another infantilizing stuffed animal toy at Christmas.

I've also seen circumstances where staff know "bleep" well so and so didn't go out and know she was at the breakfast table at 8 am and have checked on her by noon, only to find out she died in her bathroom between those four short hours. The person checking on her did that thorough room check I outlined.

I don't see the ads anymore but there was someone trying to make a living helping seniors choose a good independent living or assisted living new home away from their primary home and the lack of terminology skills people had was a subject of many of her columns. All one needs is one person repeatedly using the wrong terminology to describe what they think they are placing mom/dad into and you are back to square one.

Also people who live in Independent living arrangements frequently are entitled to getting private care workers or govt. community healthworkers up to as many times are they are needed to stay living in their choosen independent living situation. And quite often could NOT function in those buildings without the structure of nursing care obtained from the outside.

One of the worse situations is for a senior not to be able to do thier own laundry anymore. This is a huge and I mean, expensive situation for everyone involved. Independent living arrangements do NOT provide personal laundry care. The resident must be able to pack their laundry down the hallway to the laundryroom, operate the machines, remember to get them into the dryer and get them out in a timely way. No big deal right? Unfortunely I could write an entire chapter on why this can become a very big deal in short order.
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Queen K
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

Post by Queen K »

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=47723&start=15

Oh, and one also has to be very very careful about how one characterizes what happened in Summerland.

I'm not speculating and presenting it as "fact". I'm outlining the difference in terminology for places seniors go to when they want to be freed up from cooking/cleaning/maintenance etc., but are not qualified to be in a "nursing' home. These days so much misunderstanding happens when one talks about the next level of living arrangements.

Most seniors are NOT qualified for a true nursing home unless they are deemed to meet "level four" criteria. And age is NOT a factor, like it used to be.
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Re: Summerland Seniors Village Problem

Post by pbear »

Thanks Queenie for all the information you are providing. Having been through this with 2 sets of parents, the hardest part was understanding what was provided and what we had to purchase separately. The second hardest part was dealing with an ever changing staff that had different ideas of what their responsibilities were as well.

Not many things scare me, aging into this situation does. A lot.
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