Rest-home resident injured
Health authority confirms 'physical incident' between two residents
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Monday, October 3, 2016
HAY RIVER
Earlier this month, a resident of the Woodland Manor long-term care facility was injured in an incident involving another resident.
Although details of the incident are difficult to obtain, Erin Griffiths, the chief executive officer of the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, confirmed it did happen at the facility for the aged and the disabled.
Griffiths also confirmed the altercation - which she described as a "physical incident" - took place between two residents and that injury was involved.
"It was fairly significant," she said of the injury but declined to offer further detail.
"I can say that the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority has been working to address an incident that occurred at our long-term care facility on Sept. 9, 2016," she said
"We are collaborating and co-operating with the RCMP and the NWT Health and Social Services Authority partners. We're working with the families and we're also talking with the staff and working with the staff to ensure that the needs and the rights of all the residents and families are met and they're respected."
Griffiths said since the matter involves clients, the authority cannot comment further on any specifics of the case out of respect and privacy.
The authority took immediate measures to ensure resident and staff safety, she said.
"And I've personally taken the lead on communicating with families of those impacted and they are assured that we are being responsive to all their concerns."
Griffiths said the health and social services authority has policies and procedures in place to ensure a comprehensive review is carried out on all such incidents.
"We will ensure that we identify where there are opportunities to improve our services and reduce the likelihood of future incidents taking place among residents," she said.
"It is not unusual for conflicts between residents to occur in long-term care settings.
"And these are very complex situations due to the factors such as dementia, they're frail, they're vulnerable and there are disabilities, as well. Our long-term care staff are trained in de-escalation techniques."
Although Griffiths could not offer much detail about the incident, she did say such a severe altercation between residents is a rare occurrence. Attempts by News/North to obtain information from the RCMP on its possible role in investigating the Sept. 9 incident were unsuccessful before deadline.
