Advertisement

Calgary seniors voice concerns after elevator breakdown: ‘our living depends on that elevator’

Click to play video: 'Calgary seniors forced to take stairs after ongoing elevator issues'
Calgary seniors forced to take stairs after ongoing elevator issues
WATCH ABOVE: People in a Calgary seniors complex are outraged after ongoing elevator issues. Some residents have mobility and health concerns. As Tracy Nagai reports, there's no timeline on when the elevators will be fixed – Dec 28, 2016

UPDATE: Silvera for Seniors management said a technician had restored service in one elevator as of 10 a.m. Wednesday. A part is still needed for the second elevator.

Senior residents in a Calgary apartment complex are speaking out about health concerns related to an elevator breakdown that’s lasted for five days.

“I’ve got a blockage in my heart and the blood can’t circulate and it cuts off the oxygen in my brain,” said 84-year-old Marjorie Dewar. “So therefore I’m liable to pass out at any time.”

The Mountview Apartments, managed by Silvera for Seniors, is a seven-storey building in the city’s northeast.

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Weeks ago, one of the building’s two elevators broke down. Then on Friday, the other one stopped working.

“There’s other people in here in wheelchairs, especially one who has to go every three days over to the Fanning Centre for dialysis,” Dewar said.

Story continues below advertisement

The Calgary Fire Department said they were called to the building on Friday and that an elevator technician was also in attendance.

Signs have since been put up, saying there’s no time frame for when the elevators will be fixed.

“It’s an unfortunate coincidence that when we were working on the solution to the first elevator, the second elevator went down,” Silvera for Seniors spokesperson Scott Ranson said. “If I had a mother or father who was in the building and had the same situation, I would be frustrated.”

Silvera management said it’s offering to pick up residents’ groceries until the problem is fixed.

But some residents have had enough.

“I’ve been a property manager in this city for 17 years and I’ve never seen such slack, good-for-nothing garbage,” resident Pearl Embree said.

With files from Erika Tucker

Sponsored content

AdChoices