Beatings at Salmon Arm nursing home due to low staffing, families say

Two families are blaming low staffing levels at the Bastion Place nursing home in Salmon Arm, B.C.,for two brutal assassaults on their elderly relatives.

Tilly Nightingale, 97, was found on the floor of her room at the Bastion Place nursing home in Salmon Arm with a badly bruised head and a broken arm. ((Sandra Tiernan) )

But B.C. Minister of Health George Abbott said the proper level of supervision is in place.
Sandra Tiernan told CBC News on Tuesday her 97-year-old mother, Tilly Nightingale, was attacked in September. She was found on the floor of her room with a broken arm, black eyes and bruising all over her face and head.

In October, a 69-year-old stroke patient was badly injured when a man grabbed him by the throat and choked him.

Ed Cannefax, 69, was choked by a man with dementia in October at the Bastion Place nursing home in October.
Karen Robertson told CBC News on Tuesday her husband, Ed Cannefax, never fully recovered from the attack.
“I’ve sure seen a lot of changes in Ed. When you’ve been attacked like that, you’re frightened and you’re scared,” said Robertson.
Staff believes the same man, a dementia patient, was responsible for both attacks. Both families have filed complaints with police, but say they don’t want charges laid.
Instead, they blame the Interior Health Authority’s low staffing levels at Bastion Place for a lack of proper supervision and the assaults at the nursing home.
Staffing levels at the facility were temporarily increased until the man suspected of both assaults was moved to another facility, but the health minister said staffing is not the issue.
Adapted CBC News 21/11/07

BC Health Minister, George Abbott

October 20, 2018