George Smitherman needs to commit to building new facilities for the elderly who are violent without being wishy washy. He does not have to worry about his mother or older relatives as he is well covered to take care of their needs, paid for by canadians. We all should be very concerend with the facts released tonight on Market place about longterm care homes and the violence that is occurring.... we all need to join hands and ensure the Government do more to protect the fragile elderly people who have no alternative but to be in a nursing home. Murder should never be taken lightly even though the dear souls who are violent do not do it intentionally. Nonetheless there needs to be special homes for the violent ones. Watching marketplace tonight had me in tears and sick to my stomach thinking and witnessing what some of these dear dear souls are experiencing. Seniors are ones who have contributed to the building of this country and continue to do so. It's high time government acknowledged this and put proper solutions in place and it is up to every Canadian to stand up and fight for these dear souls because there but for the grace of God go all of us. Posted by: heather barnard | Oct 17, 07 08:14 PM

My grandmother experienced threats, harrassment and thefts of her belongings from one of the residents in her ward room, and that was over 12 years ago. Thankfully, she suffered no actual physical abuse, that the family knows of. Nonetheless, it played terribly on my Grandmother's mind (about what was going to happen next) and towards the end of her life, she became so depressed she just wanted to die to get out of there. Sad to see that absolutely nothing has changed and unfortunately, it's only getting worse. Espcially when the Government is reporting record surpluses in the Billions. It was a very nice brush off by Mr. Smitherman when questioned about the horrible situation of our nursing homes...bet you'll never see his parents in one. Posted by: MK | Oct 17, 07 08:16 PM

Here in Alberta the first thing done to people who become residents of nursing homes is to put them on drugs to make them docile enough to be handled. Just as drugs given to young people such as prozac have been shown to cause homicidal and suicidal behavior - so perhaps the one size fits all drugs added to the drug cocktails so many elderly are already on are a clue to the rise in violence of the nursing homes. On the urging of the health professionals, my dad put my mother in a nursing home several years ago. When he went to visit her two weeks after he found her tied to a wheelchair and drugged out of her tree. He took her out right then. When I stepped up to help him take care of her, we got her off all drugs with the doctors help and put her on a highly nutritious diet along with vitamin suppliments. What an amazing transformation. She became quite lucid and happy and never saw the inside of a nursing home again. Under the influence of the drugs, she was irritable and aggressive. The health professionals were trying to pin the "dementia" label on her when she wasn't demented at all. The doctor who finally helped me with her diagnosed her as "highly over medicated". Of course this affects your brain - and behavior. It also robs people of clear thinking and quality of life. Posted by: D. Hayward | Oct 17, 07 10:38 PM

The funding levels for care homes have not been changed or revised in decades, and do not reflect the population base that we are seeing in nursing homes today. We are seeing residents admitted who are more frail and more cognitively impaired than when the last revision of funding levels was done. Due to the level of staffing, it is no wonder staff get complacent in some cases when violence is a common place occurrence. There are just not enough staff to go around. It is no excuse, but it is reality. Posted by: Kathleen Lenshyn | Oct 17, 07 10:45 PM

I truly hope that the program, "Grey Black and Blue", will be repeated several more times, as I feel that there is a definite need to know about this matter. After all, we are all aging, aren't we? There is surely a need for the general public to be exposed to what actually happens in "care" facilities! Not just those of us, who have had first-hand experience and witnessed the "insanity" of the "care" system. I write as a daughter, who advocated for her parent, during the four-year period that she resided in a facility, until her death earlier this year. Unfortunately, in 2003, my parent had to be admitted to "the first available bed", directly from hospital, (in Ontario, north of Toronto). When I saw the residential environment that my mother was being admitted to in 2003, I was in shock. I could see, immediately, that her safety would be at risk and she surely did receive injuries. I was shocked to see that such conditions existed in the year 2003! Our country is already in a crisis situation regarding care of the fragile and vulnerable. Conditions as they exist usually take a toll on the caregiving family members and staff, as well as the resident. My advice is to do as much advance care planning as possible in order to lessen the chances of having to be admitted to a "care" facility. Oh, by the way, the Medical Director of the above-mentioned facility was also a Coroner! Posted by: Janet Irvine | Oct 18, 07 03:11 AM

I work in a Home for the Aged and have for 27 years. I don't agree with mixing men and women in an Alzheimers Unit. The men are generally strong and more aggressive and sometimes sexually inappropriate towards the ladies. I also think that there should be male health care workers on the men's unit. Some of us female workers are strong but are still no match for the men. I reallize some of the female residents can be just as aggressive and sexually inappropriate and for that reason mixing the two simply does not work. Unfortunately management and government do not seem to see this as an issue. Posted by: Lynne | Oct 23, 07 12:05 AM

I work in long term care and this episode of Marketplace is by no means any stretch of the imagination. Not only are residents at risk but staff as well. We are there to protect our residents and we do our best. We are understaffed, under-trained and underpaid. I am embarrassed by the reactions of the staff portrayed in the home featured on the show. Where I work no one is complacent. We fight constantly for more training and assistance, whatever it takes. The RN featured is also right about the type of residents you now see in long term care. We see people in their 30's and 50's. We see psychiatric patients kicked out of psychiatric hospitals where they had adequate staffing and help only to be placed in facilities with many more residents with increasing levels or dementia or psychiatric disorders, and fewer untrained staff to deal with them. When is the government going to wake up and see the problems that we face daily. Yes everyday I go to work I am separating residents, removing "wanderers" from other residents' rooms, returning property picked up by another resident with dementia. I am kicked, punched and spit at but I also work with wonderful seniors who are an absolute delight who DO NOT deserve to live out their last days living in terror and fear of people who do not realize what they are doing. If someone has cancer they see an oncologist. If someone has heart trouble, they see a cardiologist. Someone with dementia gets a GP who dispenses the latest drug to sedate. The general physicians don't seem to know what else to do. As a PSW I was trained to take care of the elderly, and the dying. This is what I want to do. This is what I LOVE to do. I don't want to be a referee. I don't want to be a policewoman. I want to do the job I was trained to do and take care of all those who need it. However, I need the tools to do the job I love to do. Not until the government steps up and is held accountable for these injuries and deaths, will we see change. Posted by: Lori Piovesan | Oct 29, 07 07:38 PM