Families of seniors living in a luxurious West Vancouver care home are demanding action from its private owner following ongoing elevator failures they claim are impacting their loved ones’ quality of life.
Amica Lions Gate is considered by many to be the gold standard for long-term care, with approximately 90 elderly residents paying as much as $18,000 per month for premium retirement living and amenities.
Christy Murphy’s mother, Judy, who has late-stage Alzheimer’s, has lived in long-term care at Amica Lions Gate for one year.
Elderly Residents and Elevator Failures
Murphy said one of the two elevators on the long-term care wing of the facility has been out of service and under repair for at least a year, while the other is also occasionally out of order.
“It’s incredibly frustrating for my mom and for all the other residents and all the staff that work here,” Murphy told Global News. “They’re spending their life savings on the last final days of their lives living in a place that promises this premium living and for the most part, it’s excellent when the elevators work – but they’re not working right now.”
Murphy’s mother lives on the third floor of the dependent care building, which houses memory care residents on the fourth and fifth floors.
The only working elevator is currently shut down from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and when both lifts are not functioning, Murphy said people in the memory care suites are unable to leave their floors.
Her mother and others on the third floor have the option of accessing the working elevators in the independent building – via a walkway that connects the two adjoining buildings – but Murphy said Judy is often trapped in her room.
“It makes me sad for them,” Murphy said in an interview. “There’s people who are in their 90s, they live on this side and for them to get to the dining room – they can’t do it anymore.”
“It really breaks my heart,” said Yasmeen Griffiths.
Griffiths’ 89-year-old father has very advanced Alzheimer’s and has lived in a memory care suite for the past year.
One of the few highlights of his day Griffiths said, is to go downstairs to the dining hall in his wheelchair.
“It’s not right to subject elderly residents who are not mobile to, you know, being trapped on their floors,” Griffiths said in an interview.
Griffiths’ mother Carole Qureshi said she climbs multiple flights of stairs each day to visit her husband.
“This has gone on for far too long, far too long,” Qureshi told Global News in an interview Tuesday. “It’s really unacceptable.”
Qureshi believes Amica is not taking the elevator issues seriously enough, and said her biggest fear is what will happen in the event of an emergency.
“Sooner or later there’s going to be an incident again, where an elderly person is trapped in an elevator and/or one of the staff members that’s forced to navigate 60 to 80 stairs a day multiple times, there’ll be a fall,” said Qureshi.
Concerns Raised in 2024
Murphy said she first raised concerns about the elevators with Amica Lions Gate management in November 2024.
Families, she said, have since received email updates stating a long term solution is being worked on, although they’ve seen limited action.
“Occasionally a new elevator company will come in and the other one’s fired but no nothing to speak of, it’s been a year,” said Murphy.
In a Nov. 7 ‘Elevator update’ sent to residents, family and team members, Amica Lions Gate confirmed it had parted ways with one elevator company and brought back another to repair and service the elevators.
The move came after Amica admitted both elevators in its long-term care building were down from Saturday to Thursday, and the previous weekend.
“This is unacceptable to us, and we fully share the frustration felt by our residents, team members, family members and visitors…We will not rest until both elevators are up and running reliably,” vowed the general manager.
In a Nov. 18 update to resident families, Amica Lions Gate said overheating was identified as a key contributor to the elevators shutting down, and that oil coolers would be installed as soon as possible on both elevators.
“This will allow us to operate elevator two (right-side elevator) at greater frequency without risk of overheating. Elevator one (left-side elevator) is currently undergoing extensive maintenance to its hydraulic system,” said the email.
As for a long-term solution, Amica Lions Gate said it was reviewing the viability of fully replacing the elevators, while noting that decision, if made, would cause further service disruptions.
“I can assure you that this is not an issue of money. We are prepared to spend what it takes to fix this problem,” the Nov. 18 email stated.
Days later, Amica Lions Gate shared an update on the ongoing service work from Solucore, an elevator and escalator consulting firm.
Solucore confirmed cylinder and hydraulic work in the elevator pit of Car 1 had been completed, and an oil cooler installed.
The elevator company, it said, would be draining the old oil out of the entire system and cleaning to ensure there are no contaminants before putting new oil in.
“Once this is done they will do the test runs and find out what adjustments will be needed to put the car in to operation,” stated Solucore on Nov. 26.
On Nov. 30, Amica Lions Gate notified resident families that it would be letting the elevators rest from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. to allow them to cool down in preparation for dinner service and the evening.
“Excuses and more excuses, (it) just doesn’t make any sense,” said Griffiths. “At some point, if these elevators are not fixable then they need to be replaced.”
Vancouver Coastal Health Contraventions
Following a complaint investigation last month, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) identified contraventions at Amica Lions Gate involving physical equipment, and records and reporting.
According to its website, VCH substantiated contraventions on Nov. 20 under two sections of the Residential Care Regulation in the Community Care and Assisted Living Act.
Section 21 pertains to ‘Equipment and furnishings’, which licensees are required to maintain in a good state of repair, and Section 77 relates to a person in care being involved in a “reportable incident”.
While specific details of the contraventions were not made public, Amica Lions Gate was required to submit a corrective action plan to licensing.
Amica Senior Lifestyles Responds
“We’re doing all that we can and I know our partners in licensing appreciate that,” said Laura Ferguson, the director of regional operations for Amica Senior Lifestyles.
Ferguson said the delays in getting the elevators back in service are not related to Ohio-based company Welltower’s acquisition of the Amica senior housing portfolio earlier this year.
“We’ve been in communication with Welltower, they’re fully supportive of whatever needs to be done to rectify the elevator situation,” Ferguson told Global News Tuesday.
Amica Senior Lifestyles also said money is not an issue.
“There’s no expenses being spared here,” Ferguson maintained. “We’re willing to do whatever it takes, it’s just working through the process of getting the parts.”
Ferguson said the elevator fix is a complex issue and Amica has hired a consultant, Solucore, to resolve the situation after overheating damaged some parts.
“Their advice is to fix the current elevators and to continue to research replacement if that seems to be the best course of action,” said Ferguson.
As to when the broken elevator will be back in service, Ferguson confirmed a part has been shipped, and Amica is hopeful it will be up and running in the next week.
Technical Safety BC, the organization that oversees the safety of technical systems and equipment across the province, said elevators must be properly maintained to be safe, and sometimes this means they must be removed from service to be repaired or while waiting for parts to arrive.
“There is no requirement under the Safety Standards Act for a minimum number of elevators to be available at any one time. This is applicable to all facilities, including long-term care homes,” said Technical Safety BC in a statement.
According to the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs, the B.C. Building Code also does not contain specific requirements for elevator availability.
The Office of the Seniors Advocate of BC told Global News it has no oversight over long-term care regulations.
While Murphy acknowledged the staff at Amica Lions Gate are amazing and have been going above and beyond to care for residents during the elevator failures, she said her mother’s quality of life has diminished due to the continued service disruptions.
“She used to have the joy of being able to go up and down to the bistro on her own,” lamented Murphy. “Her world has shrunk very, very small and now her world is the third floor.”
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