Ontario’s nursing homes can be a very violent place.
According to a report of public health watchdog, Ontario Health Coalition, reported incidents of resident-on-resident abuse doubled from 1,580 incidents in 2011 to 3,238 in 2016. At least 29 residents were killed by fellow residents in the past 6 years. Those numbers may be under-reported. In addition, a number of deaths have been noted that are not deemed homicides, but occur shortly after an incident of violence.
The numbers are particularly significant, considering that there are less than 80,000 people living in long-term care in Ontario.
Incidents usually involve at least one patient with dementia. Symptoms of dementia can often include aggression.
The report does not address staff-on-resident abuse. According to a CBC Martetplace investigation, an average of 6 seniors are abused by their caregiver every day. In 2016, there were 2,198 reported incidents of staff-on-resident abuse.
According to Natalie Mehra, Executive Director of Ontario Health Coalition, “It’s a level of violence that would be unacceptable anywhere in our society and certainly should not be tolerated for the frail and vulnerable elderly. Her organization encourages increased staffing levels and training. “We don’t think it’s in the public interest to scare people away from long-term care. We think that it’s in the public interest that this has to be exposed so it can be dealt with and fixed.”
Have a great weekend.