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Human Rights complaint refused

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HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

COMPLAINT UNDER THE ALBERTA HUMAN RIGHTS ACT

We, the Elder Advocates of Alberta Society

COMPLAIN AGAINST

Guardians of Helen Tiedemann DOB 1938, March 12
Mrs Vera (John) Heitman Mr. Ralph Tiedemann

Alleging that since October 2008 until the present, the Guardians of Helen Tiedemann have disallowed Helen Tiedemann to go for a walk.

Helen Tiedemann is a resident at the Vegreville Care center, Vegreville, AB.

Particulars:

This 73 year old year old handicapped lady is being detained pursuant to the Adult Guardianship and Trusteeship Act.

Helen Tiedemann is a Canadian Citizen and therefore has inherent rights. Nevertheless, those detaining her have sharply suspended and curtailed her civil and Charter rights.

Dated at Edmonton, AB

August 20, 2010

This Statement is true to the best of my knowledge. I hereby authorize the Alberta Human Rights Commission to investigate the above mentioned complaint and take whatever steps it considers necessary to effect settlement of the said complaint.

Helen Tiedemann is being disabled. She is not allowed to leave the facility to go for
a walk. We submit that she is being disabled, whether deliberately or by default.

Helen Tiedemann can no longer walk from bed to bathroom without the aid of a walker. She sits on her bed all the time. This is a woman who prior to being detained, walked all over Tofield, to church, to dinners, to the Golden Age Club and is now virtually handicapped because she is being held in a room with no recreation or exercise. She wishes to walk down town. This would distract her from her grief of being detained away from community and friends.

There is no physical or medical reason that would justify the prohibition of healthy exercise. There are available options:

  1. Allow her to go for a walk.
  2. Family or staff take her for a walk.
  3. Hire someone to do so. After all, thousands of dollars of Helen’s hard earned money is being spent on lawyers, courts and lengthy cognitive assessments.

It is cruel and inhumane what is being allowed to happen to her now. Helen desperately needs that exercise not only for healthier body but also for better frame of mind. Presently she is like a prisoner in “stir”. She is suffering. She is seriously depressed. We hear her anguished cries, many times, daily, on the telephone.

In a Protection For Persons in Care Preliminary Report dated April 27, 2010 from Bobby Murphy RN, a Health Care Aid was cited as saying:

“She could hear her on the phone and could hear her crying. The resident is frequently on the phone crying so she did not think anything of it”.

Helen has told us many times, “I can’t take it anymore”. “I want to go to my grave”. “I want Jesus to take me Home”.

Helen is a person who was sent home from school when in grade three and never received further schooling. She is perceived to be handicapped, however has an incredible memory and plays a mean game of cards usually winning over her opponents. In October 2008, she was totally detained in the Vegreville Alzheimer unit for eight months, like a maximum security prisoner, never allowed to leave the facility, even for coffee with friends.

The animal rights people would never allow such abuse of an animal. But the abuse and neglect of Helen Tiedemann is happening in the presence of professional doctors, nurses, social workers, mental health workers and others.

Filed: August 20, 2010

Complaint Number: 218313

Elder Advocates of Alberta Society

Response

helen2

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