Members of the Canadian military working in long term care homes because of the new coronavirus have been reporting cases of alleged abuse of the elderly.
Nearly 1,700 members of the Canadian Forces have been brought in to help overworked staff in long term care facilities hit hard by the new coronavirus. They are working in 25 long-term care facilities in Quebec and five in Ontario doing support roles such as cleaning and serving food. Others are helping residents of the facilities with their day-to-day basic needs.
But in the course of their duties some military personnel have noticed cases of alleged abuse and neglect and have reported that to their senior officers.
There are no details at this point about how many cases of alleged elder abuse have been reported.
The Canadian Forces could not comment Tuesday.
Police in Quebec as well as provincial health authorities have already launched investigations into the deaths of 31 residents at a Montreal seniors home. There were allegations that the elderly didn’t have clean drinking water or food. Other staff left their jobs because of COVID-19.
A senior citizen ill with COVID-19 was left behind at a Hamilton retirement home when the facility was evacuated. The individual was alone for 18 hours.
Apart from insufficient staffing and inadequate staff training work-related stress and staff burnout can contribute to abuse in long-term care facilities, according to a 2015 Department of Justice Report. It cited an Ontario study which surveyed over 1,600 nurses and nursing assistants and found that close to a third had witnessed each of the following: rough handling of patients in nursing homes; staff verbally abusing patients by yelling or swearing at them; embarrassing comments being made to patients.
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