A Saskatoon woman says she wants to make sure seniors are safe in Saskatchewan care homes after her mother passed away in 2018 following an incident at a long-term care home in Rosetown, Sask.
Rose Botting’s mother Frances Sander was 82 years old when she fell in her room days into her residence at the Rose Villa care facility.
Botting said during an availability at an Saskatchewan NDP event on Tuesday that her mother’s fall risk was well documented considering she had been in a hospital for several weeks before her move to Rosetown.
However, only five days into her stay, Sander was found on the floor with blood and urine. She passed away in hospital days later.
Matt Love, seniors critic for the Saskatchewan NDP, said Tuesday that the incident raises a lot of concerns around the status of long-term care in the province following a preventable fall.
“We need to ensure that the circumstances that led to her mother’s tragic death will never happen again for another resident of long-term care in the province,” Love stated.
It wasn’t the first time Sander fell while at Rose Villa.
Botting explained how her mother fell out of her bed the first night of her stay at the facility, but staff were notified of the incident thanks to an alarm. Staff notified the family of the initial collapse.
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However, Botting said the alarm did not go off the night she fell prior to her death. Sander, who was unconscious, was discovered on the ground by day shift workers.
“No investigation was done until we initiated it. We pushed and pushed,” shared Botting.
The investigation by the Saskatchewan Ombudsman didn’t produce any results until this past summer.
The findings from the investigation were presented to Botting back in August, which she said contained “shocking” details about how the incident happened and what happened to her mother that night.
However what really bothered Botting was that the situation wasn’t properly investigated, according to the report’s findings.
The report recommended that the Saskatchewan Health Authority should create a uniform investigation system for long-term care incidents.
“The Ombudsman highlighted that this has happened in the past several times,” Botting noted.
She was also informed that the report would not be posted publicly but rather summarized in an annual report, which the family felt was not good enough.
“We feel that the public needs to know that seniors may not be safe in their nursing homes,” Botting suggested.
“We also want to put the government and Saskatchewan Health Authority’s feet to the fire in making sure seniors are safe in our funded facilities.”
The NDP said their party is calling for the government to re-introduce minimum care standards, address chronic short-staffing in facilities and appoint an independent seniors advocate.
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