The Failure of Protection of Persons In Care

Against all evidence to the contrary, Nova Scotia's Protection of Persons In Care believes they're changing culture. Should we tell them we'd much prefer they implement the Protection of Persons In Care Act, as they're supposed to?

But they're keeping the for profit corporate chain nursing homes Shannex and GEM Health, Nova Scotia's top abusers, from any negative consequences or paying legislated fines so hey, who am I to complain?

Do you have experience with Protection of Persons In Care? If so I'd love to connect. We'll be stronger together. You can email me at carol@fivefires.ca, subject line Abuse. 

Abused Seniors Aren't Receiving Protective Services. It's a Human Right.

HOW MUCH ABUSE IS OCCURRING?

1. Reviewing senior abuse media coverage from 2017 it becomes apparent that reports of abuse have more than doubled in the last ten years (approximate numbers in graph 1 above). The percent of reports investigated has almost been cut in half (graph 2 above). 

2. There have been approximately 245 confirmed cases of senior abuse in Nova Scotia in the last seven years. These include physical and sexual assaults, extreme unmanaged pain, deaths from untreated injuries and more.

WHO ARE THE WORST OFFENDERS?

1. Comparing all nursing homes in Nova Scotia with more than 100 beds, residents are approximately 65% more likely to be abused in a for profit nursing home than a not for profit or public nursing home. All of these for profit facilities with more than 100 beds belong to either Shannex or GEM Health. 

2. The top five facilities with the most confirmed abuses over the last seven years are all for profit facilities belong to Shannex or GEM Health:

• Shannex's Arbourstone - 12 cases of abuse
• GEM Health's The Admiral - 10 cases of abuse
• GEM Health's Melville Lodge - 9 cases of abuse
• Shannex's Parkstone - 8 cases of abuse
• GEM Health's The Mira - 8 cases of abuse

3. Tim Houston's Conservative government, knowing this, gave Shannex a sole sourced contract for $120 million to provide more beds.

WHO PROTECTS? ARE THEY EFFECTIVE?

1. Seniors in long term care are entitled to the same protective services that all Canadian citizens have. They aren't receiving this essential human right. 

2. The provincial government is responsible for protecting seniors in nursing homes via the Protection of Persons in Care Act. They provide an investigation service through the Protection of Persons in Care division of Seniors and Long Term Care. It would be impossible to convey how bizarre this 'service' is without experiencing it first hand. They investigate, conduct interviews, review documentation, photos and video. Months go by, preliminary reports are generated, more evidence is examined and then, regardless of a finding of abuse - nothing meaningful happens. There are no consequences to abusing our most vulnerable and loved family members. You read that right. I stand behind the statement 100%. It sounds unbelievable but it's true. I'll provide more detail in a future post. 

In the meantime, as an example of the service's lack of accountability, here are some pages I reviewed from past freedom of information releases of investigation reports. The thirty five reports I reviewed consistently looked like this:

3. It could be argued that seniors in long term care are receiving less protection than your dog receives under the Nova Scotia Animal Protection Act, which explicitly prohibits prolonged, preventable suffering and has higher fines than the Protection of Persons in Care Act. Also fines are actually levied under the Animal Protection Act and have never been levied under the Protection of Persons in Care Act.

I would love to hear from others who have experience with abuse in nursing homes in Nova Scotia. Please email me at carol@fivefires.ca with the subject line Abuse.

PCs Effectively Invest In Higher Abuse Rates For Seniors

Mom (Margaret Macomber) and Esme. 

Abuse statistics compiled by Nova Scotia's Protection of Persons in Care division provide valuable lessons. One of the most important is the higher rates of abuse in larger, corporate chain nursing homes owned by Shannex and G.E.M.

Comparing all nursing homes with over 100 beds, you are approximately 65% more likely to be abused in a private, for profit nursing home than you are in a not for profit or publicly owned nursing home in Nova Scotia. Please see the end of the post for more detail.

Despite this greater risk in larger, for profit nursing homes, our government continues to support and grow this lucrative 'industry'. Nova Scotia has one of the highest percentages of for profit nursing homes in Canada, at 42%:

Ignoring the well documented risk to society's most vulnerable, Tim Houston's provincial Conservative party gave Shannex a multi million dollar contract, without any competitive bidding process, to provide a "transitional care facility for frail older people occupying hospital beds".

If the province isn't guided by their own safety data, and there are no consequences for the abuses (more on the fines, sanctions, licensing and criminal charges that aren't pursued in a future post) what is the purpose of tax payer investment in Protection of Persons in Care?

Lets Connect

If you have experience with abuse in nursing homes in Nova Scotia it would be great to hear from you, carol@fivefires.ca, subject line Abuse. I don't have answers but I believe the more of us there are connecting the more power we will have.

Data Sources and Detail

I used the Protection of Persons in Care abuse data (lower page links) and the Nova Scotia Nursing Homes and Residential Care Facilities Directory to compile the abuse information. Please email me at carol@fivefires.ca with subject line Blog if you see any mistakes. I'm happy to fix them.

Not for Profit and Publicly Owned Nursing Homes with Over 100 Beds:

Summary - 2727 total beds and 67 confirmed abuses from 2017/2018 to 2023/2024.

Private for Profit Nursing Homes with over 100 Beds:

Summary - 929 total beds and 35 confirmed abuses from 2017/2018 to 2023/2024.

Please email carol@fivefires.ca if you see any mistakes in the above, I'm happy to make corrections. 

Thank you for reading.

Being Proactive in Preventing Abuse

Mom wearing her Five Fires Equestrian Centre hat, 2022

There are significant gaps in providing protective services to seniors in long term care. I'll continue to document these in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here are some ideas for helping to protect your loved one in long term care:

1. The lawyer advising me indicates that you can likely install a live feed camera in the resident's nursing home room. The resident or their substitute decision maker will need to consent. You will also need to ensure that you haven't signed a contract with the facility that prevents you from having a live feed camera. 

If there are multiple people living in one room consent from all would be required. 

Obviously there are privacy issues to weigh along with the safety and protection of the resident. Knowing what I know now, I would always go with having a camera. 

2. Enquire whether the nursing home has a whistle blower process that enables staff and any other concerned people to make a complaint anonymously. For example Shoreham Village has a very good whistle blower process in place. 

3. If the resident is at risk of falling, ensure their bed has a sensor to alert staff if they are trying to get up unassisted. Mom had one on her bed at Colchester hospital but not at Shannex's Cedarstone Enhanced Care facility in Truro. In addition to her terrible abuse incident outlined in earlier posts, she fell and hit her head her first week at Cedarstone.       

Please ensure that you check any legal questions with a lawyer who can address your specific case. 

If you have other ideas for resident safety or if you have experience with abuse in a nursing home setting, please email me at carol@fivefires.ca, with the subject line Abuse. 

Thank you for reading.