Edmonton Police Service Defending Nursing Homes

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Letter

March 5, 2008

via Facsimile (780) 421-2211
Letter to follow

Mr. David Korol, Deputy Chief of Police
9620 103 A Avenue,
Edmonton, AB. T5H 0H7

Dear Sir:

Thank you for your correspondence of November 21, 2007 with the attached letter of Inspector Danielle Campbell dated October 25, 2007.

The letter of Inspector Danielle Campbell dated October 25, 2007 directed us to the Protection For Persons in Care Act (PPCA). Ms. Inspector Danielle Campbell must have been given misinformation in regard to this legislation. The PPCA purports to protect vulnerable Albertans but has absolutely no power to do so. The impotent PPCA fails to provide protection or afford justice to victimized elderly. Please see our attached handout, “What is elder abuse?”.

Furthermore, we continue to object to the fact that Police Officers attend elder care facilities under the circumstances as noted in our letter of March 4, 2008 (attached).

We shall be awaiting your reply and be grateful to be in receipt of such reply by the 20th of March, 2008.

Respectfully submitted,

Yours truly,

Elder Advocates Of Alberta Society

Quotation from Letter Dated March 4, 2008

“Recently four visiting seniors were summarily removed from the Chapel church service at Rosedale, they were attending with other residents. The police were called and what is most troubling, the police came to ensure that these four
seniors were removed and left the grounds.”

Handout

The Protection For Persons in Care Act (PPCA) passed in 1995 purports to protect the vulnerable seniors of this province but has no power to do so. The PPC is a government appointed body which cannot enforce recommendations or access medical or financial records (Section 7.)

According to a government publication explaining the Act: “It should be emphasized that the recommendations are simply recommendations.” The name itself, Protection For Persons in Care Act is a misrepresentation that infers that it protects all Albertans who are in care when in fact all Albertans in private care facilities and even some who are in public facilities such as Alberta Hospital Edmonton and Alberta Hospital Ponoka are not included. Furthermore, in some large facilities such as the 700 person Kensington Shepherds Care, Edmonton, a complaint was dismissed because according to the dismissal report, the particular room that the victimized senior was in, was private.

When a complaint is made to the PPC & no consequences result, it sends a loud, clear message that seniors can be harmed with impunity. Correspondence from government personnel demonstrates the flawed, deceptive nature of the Act. A letter from a Deputy Minister dated May 21, 2002, states: “The dismissal of abuse, per the definition of abuse in the Act, does not indicate that the care or practices that occurred are acceptable.

A further letter from a Deputy Minister dated August 30, 2005 states: “It is not the intention of the Act to find guilt or innocence but to better protect the health, safety and well being of adults in care.”

In recent years, it has become public knowledge that elderly have suffered, dehydration, starvation, asphyxiation, fatal scalding, rape and other horrific happenings in care facilities.

It is an established principle of common law that health care providers owe a duty of care to provide a reasonable level of safety to clients. The impotent PPCA fails to provide protection or afford justice to victimized elderly. The PPCA appears to be a massive deception foisted on seniors by those who are mandated to protect them.