Video taken in a Trois-Rivieres seniors' home of two residents who had apparently fallen and received no assistance has raised questions about the care being offered in the province’s seniors' residences.
Johanne Panneton was visiting her mother at the Cooke residence on Wednesday when she was stunned to see a man on the floor, crying out for help, with no one ariybd.
She recorded it on her cell phone and went in search of aid only to find an elderly woman also unattended on the floor.
“I ran around the floor looking for someone to help, even calling out loud and there was no one,” she said.
According to Panneton, the two staffers left in charge of the entire facility were on a different floor.
The administration for the seniors' home refused to comment but did say that the home was within government norms, which calls for a ratio of one employee per 13 residents during the evening.
Pierre Blain, a representative for the Regroupement Provincial des Comites des Usagers, which represents hundreds of users in publicly funded homes in Quebec, said the norms need to be flexible and realistic.
“In this case, we are in a unit where people are more vulnerable,” he said. “I was shocked about it. Because we have two people in distress and nobody to help, so it takes, from my point of view, too long to react in that case.”
The local health board in Trois Rivieres has called for an investigation. Health Minister Gaetan Barrette said he will await the results of that report before commenting.
The incident comes less than a week after the Quebec coroner launched an investigation into the case of a 67-year-old woman who died in a Montreal-North seniors' home and whose body wasn’t found for up to 10 days.
