How to spot signs of possible abuse in your loved one's seniors home

A case of abuse at a Calgary nursing home has a seniors advocacy group calling for a conversation on national care and staffing standards.

Tannis Snukal, 97, died four weeks after breaking a leg in a fall after being bathed at the AgeCare Glenmore facility. An investigation concluded abuse had taken place.

The Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) says incidents of abuse of seniors are far too common across the country.

Laura Tamblyn Watts with CARP spoke to The Homestretchon Thursday.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. You can listen to the complete interview here.

Q: What do you think about cases like this?

A: Such sadness for the family at play but also a greater concern that this one terrible incident is indicative of what we are seeing in long-term care across the country.

We have a system which is understaffed and which is trying to do good things, but in the end, it just can't succeed the way it needs to because it doesn't have the resources or systems in place to be successful.

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Q: How common are situations like this?

A: They are common every day. We know that cases of abuse or some type of mistreatment in long-term care is a daily occurrence.

Some of it comes from lack of staffing, some of it comes from resident-on-resident violence and some of it can come from just things falling through the cracks.

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Q: What signs should we be looking for?

A: The evenings, weekends and holiday staffing is the thinnest.

Medications can be missed, bathing can be a challenge and people can be at their most vulnerable.

Make sure the older person in your lifelooks like they are moving as much as possible, getting as much physiotherapy as possible, that there is a medications review.

We often see in long-term care is medications are over-prescribed to keep that person docile, including the use of antipsychotic medications.

And you want to make sure any bruising on their bodies really has a reason associated with it.

And lastly, who is taking care of the older person in your life?You want to meet those people and see if the older person in your life has a negative reaction to them.

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Q: What kind of questions should we be asking about the care of our loved ones?

A: The more people involved in the care, the better it is.

How often are they getting moved?

Are they getting the appropriate physical therapy?

Are they having problems with devices like hearing aids, glasses, dentures?

Are they getting enough social engagement? The more isolated people are, the more at risk they are of abuse.

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Q: Should we have to advocate for things like daily teeth brushing?

A: I don't think we should have to advocate for that. We should have a system where it is assumed that oral health and other forms of health are going to be what we call table stakes.

But given the situation we have now, I think it's important to keep track ofhow often is bathing happening.

Are they being dried appropriately or left wet? Are there concerns about wounds? If they are bed-bound, are they being turned so they don't get sores?

About all, are they able to actively engage the best they can in long-term care?

We shouldn't have to do that, but that's the situation families are faced with right now.

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Q: Are there national standards?

A: There are accreditations which are provincial but what we don't have are staffing standards. There is no minimum staffing hours required. We have some standardsbut few, and staffing is a real problem.

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Q: What would you like to see happen around public policy?

A: We would like to have a national conversation on long-term care. We've had some interesting pilot studies, the butterfly approach or other empathy-based approaches.

We need to track the right things. Right now homes say they are so busy reporting on all these mini standardsthat they can't take care of the whole person.

We need a national conversation as part of a national seniors strategy and a national dementia strategy to make sure that people who live in long-term care get the care they need and live their best lives.

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With files from The Homestretch.