HALIFAX – Reports that residents at a group of homes for the developmentally disabled in Nova Scotia have violently attacked other residents and staff have prompted the Department of Community Services to launch an investigation of the agency that operates the facilities.
Community Services Minister Denise Peterson-Rafuse said Thursday she has ordered the audit after hearing from a union about injuries and several incidents of residents physically harming other residents at homes in Truro operated by the Colchester Residential Services Society, a private organization.
Peterson-Rafuse said in an interview she was informed of injuries and abuse earlier this week after her assistants met with representatives of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union.
"Upon completion of that meeting I was informed of what was going on and requested a full investigation be put in place by the department," she said.
Union president Joan Jessome said she asked the minister to audit the agency after she met Monday night with 30 unionized employees who work at the residences. It was the fourth meeting to examine concerns raised by workers.
"I would say in Colchester, in my personal opinion, I don’t think they (the agencies managers) have acted and when they have it certainly hasn’t been fast enough," said Jessome.
According to statistics compiled by the Workers Compensation Board, there have been 38 injuries in the past five years caused by violent incidents at the society’s residences, which include five adult group homes, a centre for respite care and a senior’s home. There have also been two allegations through the province’s Protection of Person in Care Act of residents physically attacking other residents in the past two years.
Peterson-Rafuse said the injury rates at the provincially funded, non-profit agency are too high, and she expects the investigation will find out what is happening.
"To me, that sounds like an awful lot of people getting injured. Your life circles around being able to do your job and being able to support your family and one injury can take that away from you," she said.
The agency has an independent board of directors appointed from the community, which oversee the five residences that provide accommodation to 23 people with mental and physical disabilities, and mental illnesses.
Shannon McLellan, director of the society, declined an interview but in an email she said the society is "prepared to co-operate fully with all audits and investigations."
"We consider these to be useful processes. We look forward to any recommendations that will help us do our job better."
She also said the number of injuries due to violence has been decreasing in recent years.
In 2006, there nine injuries due to violence a year among the staff, according the compensation board’s statistics. In 2009, there were six injuries due to violence, and up until Oct. 1 of this year, there have been six injuries. The violence category in the board’s database includes "assaults and violent acts, harassment by person(s)."
Claims of injuries as a result of violence make up about half of the 67 workplace injuries the compensation board has recorded at the agency since 2006.
McLellan said concerns raised by workers will be taken seriously.
"Like almost all work situations there are risks inherent in the important work our employees do. Our attention to the identification of these risks and our commitment to mitigating them through collaboration with our employees is a key area of our focus," she said in the email.
A spokesman for the Department of Community Services said in an interview there are two allegations of residents physically abusing other residents at the homes, with the most recent allegation of physical abuse happening last Friday.
"The latest referral was of one resident pushing another. The pushed resident fell into the wall where they banged their nose and knee," Lucas Wide said in an email.
"A doctor said the resident had a concussion but released the resident to return home and told staff to keep an eye on them the next few days. No other symptoms developed over those days."
The probe of resident-on-resident abuse is carried out under the Protection of Person in Care Act by investigators with Community Services. The investigators determine if the allegations are founded and make recommendations for follow up.
Jessome said she was disturbed that her union members seemed to be apprehensive about raising the issue of violence.
"They’re afraid of being reprimanded. They’re afraid of being punished if they spoke out about violence in the workplace," she said.
Peterson-Rafuse said workers should feel free to report safety incidents to investigators from the department when the review gets underway. She hasn’t set a definite time frame for the investigation.
"I don’t have a specific date, but staff know it’s an as-soon-as-possible thing. I’ll discuss it in the next few days and we’ll have some dates," she said.
"I have to get a better scope from staff on how much information this will entail and how much time they need."
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