61 www.rnca.ca An 82-year-old woman was attacked in long-term care. Her son is calling for changes to the system(continued) Pinsent said his mother was moved to a different wing and his sister was told the facility would increase staff checks on their mother from every hour to every 15 minutes but he doesn't think the measures address the bigger picture. He said systemic changes — like addressing staff shortages — need to happen to better protect residents. "People are overworked. They're stressed. Things can happen. Things get overlooked or missed at times, I understand that," said Pinsent. "They're absolutely exhausted and could be prone to making mistakes due to that exhaustion." Irene Pack, Central Health's director of long-term care and community supports, acknowledges facilities occasionally face staffing issues. "It's very regrettable and we take every measure to keep our residents safe and secure," said Pack. "We want to ensure that our residents receive quality care and to ensure that there's sufficient staffing available to deliver not only care but supervision." While Pack wouldn't comment on the incident involving Pinsent's mother, she said whether a resident is taken elsewhere for assessment depends on the injury and on the availability of necessary equipment, like X-rays, within a facility. She said any attacks inside long-term care facilities are taken seriously. "Whether it's resident on resident, staff on resident, so on and so forth, we are very responsive to make sure that the risk is mitigated," said Pack. Whenever an incident occurs within a Central Health long-term care facility, she said, a "full and thorough investigation" is done, and any criminal activity is reported to law enforcement. Residents' safety, she said, is a priority for the regional health authority. "If there's findings from our investigation that can improve service delivery, safety and security of a resident in our care, then we definitely would put a plan in place to implement any recommendations," said Pack. "We want to ensure that our residents receive good quality care and a good quality of living." That's what Sean Pinsent wants, too. While it's too late for his mother Patricia, he hopes the incident will prevent other families from having to go through the same experience. "We're eventually someday going to be in that situation," he said. "Would we want it to happen to us?Would we want it to happen to anybody else? Absolutely not." www.cbc.ca Irene Pack, Central Health's director of long-term care and community supports, says a full investigation is launched whenever someone in a long-term care facility is harmed. (CBC) Sean Pinsent says his mother Patricia, pictured in 2022, was beaten while asleep in her room in the Dr. Hugh Twomey Health Care Centre. (Submitted by Sean Pinsent)) 211. Help Starts Here Life isn’t always easy, but finding help can be 211 connects you to programs and services in your community. How to Reach 211 NL ► Dial 2-1-1 to speak to an information and referral specialist 24/7 ► Toll-Free Phone: 1- 855-258-4126 ► TTY/Text: 1-855-405-7446 ► Email: 211nl@findhelp.ca ► On the web: https://nl.211.ca
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