Elder Advocates of Alberta Society

AGING IN PLACE, Alberta

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:27:42 +0000

Minister of Health, Fred Horne has announced a change in the

government’s approach to senior’s housing and care.

He is quoted as saying, a concept, “aging in place”, was developed

by Premier Alison Redford during the leadership campaign.

He is further quoted as saying: “What we mean by “aging in place” is

really designing a facility that allows us to fund and support the needs

of seniors as they change over time

Those of us, who for years have been monitoring senior care initiatives

have heard all this before.

The concept of aging in place was first widely discussed in 2004.

Then the much publicized initiative of 2008, “CONTINUING CARE STRATEGY -

AGING IN THE RIGHT PLACE”, was presented, allegedly in consultation with Albertans.

We respectfully submit that the proposed change is essentially the

same old meal deal, served on a newer platter.

1/2 a hot dog for supper

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:20:19 +0000

This morning we got a call from small town Alberta concerning
a hospitalized senior who was served a half a hot dog for supper.
We encourage those, who compassionately visit older persons
who are detained in long term care, locked units, active treatmenthospitals or mental hospitals, to bring along a few flowers to brightenup the senior’s world and always carry a camera.

FATALITY INQUIRY – Lucy Lecavalier – January 25, 2012 – Edmonton Provincial Court – Judge J.Henderson presiding

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:17:57 +0000

A patient, who in 2008,was in a transition bed at a long term care

center waiting for palliative care was administered a lethal dose

of medication. She died within the hour.

LPN who was a float nurse, was informed patient required

pain medication. She looked for the assigned medication nurse, was

unable to find anyone, so she went to the medication room to prepare

the medication herself. In error, instead of selecting a 2 mgm. ampoule,

she chose a10 mgm ampoule of the more potent Hydromorphone

Hydrochloride/ Dilaudid from the box containing the 10 mgm. vials.

She broke the vial and withdrew the Dilaudid into a syringe. She was

intending to calculate the amount to be withdrawn when she was

interrupted by an aide who was looking for assistance. The LPN

capped the syringe, leaving the syringe & medication room unattended.

After some time she returned to med room, picked up the syringe &

failed to do further calculations. With fully loaded syringe, she went

straight to patient room & at 4:15 PM, administered the excessively

large fatal dose of potent narcotic.

Returning to the med room, she realized that she had massively

overdosed the patient. She immediately went to Care Manager

(who was not a nurse) to report her error. The Care Manager

called the Administrator.

911 was called. EMS arrived, were in pt. room by 4:35 PM. & told

by Norwood staff they could not attend patient until staff had cleaned

her up. Perhaps pt. bowels had already loosened. EMS over rode staff

& attended to pt, started an IV & oxygen. They found patient

to be unconscious, pulse threadlike, respirations depressed.

When ambulance removed patient from Norwood, arrived at RAH

hospital 4:55 PM, the patient was deceased.

When LPN was asked by the Court how she calculated the amount to be

administered, she responded that she did so in her head because

she had administered the medication the day before. Four years after

the incident, she still failed to understand that she was not dealing

with the 2 mgm. Dilaudid but with the much more potent Dilaudid

contained in the 10 mgm. vial.

- wrong medication

- wrong calculation

Loss of foreign workers visas leaves seniors’ facility in lurch

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:16:15 +0000

Many care facilities have sharply cut back staffing levels, a case in point isCovenant Health.
Facilities manage to function until a crisis situation hits such as the Norovirus.
Covenant Health has severely cut back staffing
The Norovirus is not selective and will affect staff as well as patients.Recently during such an outbreak, at a General Hospital 30 patient ward, 9 patients were ill with the virus It was during the supper hour, when a patient fell.
There was one staff person on the floor. When you put undue stress / unreasonable levels of responsibility on hands-on-staff, they break down, they leave.

HEALTH QUALITY COUNCIL OF ALBERTA releases findings of second provincial long term care family experience survey

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:58:53 +0000

We have been informed by the HQCA that the quality of long term care has improved.

We note however that their survey indicates that 38% of respondents gave meals a

failing grade of six or less.

Perhaps one of the most most significant and troubling findings of the survey was

that one-third of those who were unhappy with the care didn’t complain to the facility

because they were afraid the resident would face retribution from staff.

We know, that oftentimes when persons complain about the care that their

loved ones are receiving, they may be threatened that if they don’t like thecare, they can take

momma or poppa somewhere else or they may be totally banned from attending at the

facility and never see their loved one again. No valid appeal exists concerning such a

bannning.

Presently, the performance of individual facilities in the survey is confidential, it is hoped

that results of future surveys will be made public & transparent.

Inquiry into death of 83-year-old

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:50:23 +0000

Body found behind Strathcona PLace, 77 Avenue & 109 Street, Edmonton, AB.

admin — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:51:29 +0000

The body of an unclothed woman was found Saturday morningbehind Strathcona Place senior’s independent housing.
On weekends, there is no manager on site, seniors areleft unattended. Police are not releasing any details concerning
her death.

Charges laid against Sharon Home over resident’s death

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:24:55 +0000

Private criminal charges have been laid against the Sharon Home in connection with the death of a resident last year.

The Sharon Home has been accused of criminal negligence causing death and criminal negligence causing bodily harm in the death of 93-year-old Lilyan Peck on Oct. 19.

Lawyer Harvey Berkal, whose father Rabbi Louis Berkal was a resident of the Simkin Centre run by the Sharon Home and died on Oct. 19, 2009, filed the private prosecution today because the province’s Justice Department has not filed any charges.

“This should send a strong message that our elderly deserve to be treated with the proper care, respect and accountability that should be a basic standard for those with no voice,” Berkal said in a statement.

The first hearing on the charges has been scheduled for next month.

Peck’s death, which may have been hastened by horrendous bedsores that became infected, led to several investigations to find out what went wrong with her care. It also resulted in the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority taking remedial action against seven nurses.

Months later, an official with the province’s health department stated in a letter made public that the actions of the nursing home staff caring for Peck was “physical abuse by neglect”.

There are 200 residents living in the centre.

Courtesy The Winnipeg Free Press

First euthanasia in Netherlands of severe Alzheimer’s patient performed

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:59:54 +0000

THE HAGUE — A woman with advanced Alzheimer’s disease has been euthanized in the Netherlands, a first in a country that requires patients to be fully mentally alert to request to die, activists said Wednesday.

The 64-year-old woman died in March after being sick “for a very long time,” said a spokesman for the Right to Die-NL (NVVE) group.

She had insisted “for several years” that she wanted to be euthanized, added spokesman Walburg de Jong.

“It is really a very important step — before, patients dying by euthanasia were at really very early stages of dementia, which was not the case with this woman,” de Jong said.

Euthanasia is allowed in the Netherlands only if the patient suffers intolerable pain due to an illness diagnosed as incurable by a doctor. The patient must give authorization while in full control of his mental faculties.

“This is also a message for doctors since they often refuse to euthanise people in advanced stages of dementia even though they have expressly asked for it,” de Jong said.

The Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia in April 2002.

Each euthanasia case is reported to one of five special commissions, each made up of a doctor, a jurist and an ethical expert charged with verifying that all required criteria had been respected.

It was not immediately clear whether the case of the woman in question had gone through such a commission.

Dutch courts have in the past jailed people for contravening the criteria for assisted suicide.

Courtesy The National Post

Targeting Seniors with DriveABLE

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:54:37 +0000

TARGETING SENIORS

We have uncovered a government initiative designed to arbitrarily strip seniors of their rights and their driving licenses.

The government agency, Primary Care Network, is carrying out this pilot project as an “innovative approach to providing primary care, to deliver improved health care to Albertans”

The pilot project is carried out in cooperating medical clinics such as the Justik Clinic, the Gateway Medical Clinic of Edmonton, the Meridian Clinic & the Family Medicine Clinic of Stony Plain, the Westend Clinic of Spruce Grove and numerous other medical clinics across northern and southern Alberta.

The protocol is as follows: The unsuspecting senior, who may never have had a car accident or even a speeding ticket, arrives at the medical clinic with his / her Medical Examination For Motor Vehicle Operators Form in hand, and expects to have a physical exam by a physician. However, instead he/she is led to a room by a primary care nurse and is administered a mental test (Simard MD). Parts of the test are stop watch timed. The registered nurse has been trained by and is under the direction of the Primary Care Network. IT is reported to us that most seniors fail the Simard MD.*

The senior may then be given a physical exam or sometimes be directly referred to DriveAble, for a computer test. The senior’s personal health information and results of the Simard MD, is forwarded to DriveAble, often without permission or even knowledge of the senior.

The Seniors have reported to us, that shortly after they arrive home from the doctor’s office, they receive phone calls from DriveAble directing them to come for testing. They report the calls to be most intimidating and threatening. They are strongly informed by DriveAble personnel, that if they do not attend, they will not get their license renewed.

Most seniors, obediently go, pay the exorbitant fee of $200. or $250. because they want that license. They are led to believe that DriveAble has the legal authority to deny them their license. Seniors who are not computer literate or who have never handled a “mouse”, are destined to fail the DriveAble test.

The results of all this testing is then forwarded to the Alberta Government Driver Fitness and Monitoring staff at the Alberta Government Motor Vehicles licensing branch.

We have learned of seniors who successfully passed the road test but flubbed the computer DriveAble test and were denied their driving license by Alberta Government Driver Fitness and Monitoring staff.

We have also learned, that there are those who scored low on the Simard MD because English is their second language. They may speak well and may have been successful business people but have difficulty with the testing. Some seniors are just plain scared and intimidated when they are confronted by testing.

The referral Form sent to DriveAble is a contravention of the Privacy Act. Physicians and primary care nurses, are unlawfully publishing senior’s private health information.

We submit that the Alberta Government Driver Fitness and Monitoring staff are disseminating misinformation when they state that they can lawfully deny driving licenses because of Simard MD scores or DriveAble results.

We find it troubling that professional registered nurses, whose most notable role is to be a patient advocate, are cooperating in this deceptive, unfair process.

In a letter posted on our website, Mr. Fred Horne, MLA. (Edmonton-Rutherford) states that DriveAble is a private for profit company and is not affiliated with the Alberta government. So why are doctors sending / publishing private personal health information to these folks and why at $200. or $250. a shot, is this company allowed to make a fortune on the backs of seniors?

It is devastating to lose one’s license. It causes seniors to become dependant,

isolated and depressed.

Finally, in Alberta, the legal requirement to have one’s license renewed is that:

a physician carries out a physical exam on the senior who wishes to have his license renewed
the physician sign the Medical Examination For Motor Vehicle Operators Form which certifies that on the noted date, he examined the senior in accordance with Safety Code Medical Standards.
If the physician does not recommended a driver’s examination, (section B) then the applicant senior has met the full requirement to have his Alberta Driving License renewed.

The primary Care Network is a frightening concept. It appears to be another initiative of government to take control of its’ citizens. Previously a citizen’s health care information was confidential and a private matter between you and your doctor. Now primary care network personnel have access to all your medical files and information. In essence, the government has access to all your personal information. Indeed, an Orwellian concept.

SAY NO TO ASSESSMENTS! SAY NO TO DRIVEABLE!