Between January 2013 and June 2014, provincial inspectors found more than 450 infractions at the 37 long-term care homes in Waterloo-Wellington.
The biggest offender, according to the ministry, was Guelph’s Lapointe-Fisher Nursing Home, which racked up 71 infractions.
Of those 71, 10 were orders – the most serious step taken locally.
“It was obviously a wake-up call that we needed to make some changes,” says Shona Outridge, the facility’s director of operations.
Among the infractions: a resident trapped by a bed rail, a nurse repeatedly giving medications at the wrong time, and more than 20 cases of abuse.
Increasingly, more of the home’s patients are living with dementia – which, Outridge says, means staff face serious challenges, especially with half the facility’s rooms housing three or four residents apiece.
“Residents (were) sexually inappropriate with another resident or toward another resident – again, not knowing what they were doing,” Outridge says.
Some changes have been made at Lapointe-Fisher.
Training has been increased, policies have been revised and a new administrator has been hired.
The latter of those changes has made a big difference at the home according to Marta Golobic, whose husband lives at Lapointe-Fisher – although she’s always been happy with the care he’s received.
“Everything is more taken care of (now) … and the staff – they are happier, they work together more,” she says.
All 10 orders issued to Lapointe-Fisher were dealt with and the facility was back in compliance within two months, Outridge says.
Coming in second among local nursing homes was Waterloo’s Columbia Forest facility.
Over the 18 months, it tallied 63 infractions.
Ministry reports show one case where a PSW scrubbed a bathtub, but feces was left behind – and another where a lack of nurses led to a medication mistake.
Columbia Forest would not let CTV News cameras inside or answer any questions.
Revera, which owns Columbia Forest, emailed a statement saying they are aware of problems that don’t match their expectations and are addressing the concerns.
Sixty-one infractions were found at the Trinity Village long-term care home in Kitchener over the same period of time.
Included in those infractions were an incident where a resident was left suspended over a toilet for more than 90 minutes.
Debby Riepert, the facility’s chief operating officer, says all issues flagged by the ministry have been addressed.
“I don’t believe there’s a problem here,” she says.
“We can’t ... count on everyone doing everything all the time. Sometimes people make a mistake.”
Miranda Ferrier, president of the Ontario PSW Association, says many dangerous incidents occur at nursing homes due to understaffing.
Often, she says, one PSW is responsible for 14 residents.
“I promise you less infractions if there is more staff on the floor,” she tells CTV News.
CTV News asked the Ministry of Health for an interview regarding their inspections of long-term care homes, but was told the ministry would only answer questions via email.
When asked if the inspection system is working, a ministry spokesperson did not directly answer the question, but did say that the ministry’s role is to deal with information it receives, and it takes that responsibility seriously.
