On Monday, April 4, 2011, Norm Farrell in his always interesting blog Northern Insights wrote an piece on the abuse of elders. Norm writes, "The story is about 88-year old Kathleen Palamarek, rescued recently by ambulance paramedics after suffering narcotic poisoning from morphine administered at a large residential care home in Victoria. Mrs. Palamarek's daughter had called 911 after finding her mother comatose at the care home. The patient was removed by paramedics for emergency hospital treatment, apparently over the objections of the institution charged with caring for her." The story I believe, was not covered by the Main Stream Media as can be expected in BC, Norm found the story at CTWatchdog.com, an American site founded by George Gombossy, an award winning investigative journalist with long experience The story was written by an American writer, Ron Winter, who has written about elder care abuses in the US and Canada. To read this horror story go here
The following is a small except from the article
"The B. C. Mental Health Act allows medical personnel and police officers to apprehend, detain and treat a person against their will if they believe the individual’s physical or mental condition “may” deteriorate – based solely on their own observations or on “information received” from any other person. No evidence or substantiation is required.
This forms the basis for my concerns about the laws in Canada. Even though the US does not have uniform laws to protect the elderly, groups in both countries are working to “harmonize” existing laws so they would be the same in Canada and the US. Considering how the Canadian authorities terrorized an elderly widow and her family, we should all be concerned about efforts to duplicate those laws here.
Unfortunately, cases similar to Mrs. Palamarek’s are not rare in Canada or the US."
In a later post on the same day, Norm reprinted a story he ran in 2010 and I quote from this below:
This reprints a Northern Insights article first published January 10, 2010. It deserves review because of the Granny Napping article published here April 4, 2011. I have already had a number of private messages applauding the spotlight cast on this issue and recounting more horror stories.
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Paul Willcocks' blog Paying Attention published Seniors' care recommendations snubbed by government. He discusses a report by the independent Ombudsperson, which provides evidence that the BC Liberal pre-election promise to protect healthcare was not sincere.
Elder care appears to be a fact of life and as a Sonic Boomer, I am concerned that this issue needs to be addressed. I agree with Norm that this story should be circulated as widely as possible. Norm suggests that you might help by emailing your MLA, (to make this easier, I have included a list of emails for MLA's, which I have posted below) asking for an urgent review of the Palamarek case and of the BC Mental Health Act. At the same time you may want to ask the Liberal MLA's why there has been no action on the independent Ombudsperson report referred to in Mr. Willcocks' blog.
From the information in the two articles about Mrs. Palamarek, it appears that she was a resident at the Lodge at Broadmead in Victoria at the time of the overdose and it would appear that she was taken back to that facility awaiting the outcome of the court case. So I would also suggest that you may want to contact the chair of the Board of Directors at the Lodge at Broadmead or any of the Executive Staff to let them know of your concern for Mrs. Palamarek and the apparent treatment she received and to perhaps ask them about their side of the issue. The contact information for The Lodge at Broadmead is below.
The Chair is Sharlene Smith, she should be able to be contacted using this email . Name Title Phone (250)David Cheperdak Chief Executive Officer 658-3200Fiona Sudbury Director of Care 658-3239Merv Dutchak Director of Support Services 658-3245Dr. Duncan Robertson Chief of Medical Staff 658-3231Dr. Rick Nuttall Medical Coordinator 727-1096Evelyn Stewart Executive Director, Broadmead Care Foundation 658-3220
The Lodge at Broadmead, Veterans Health Centre
4579 Chatterton Way
Victoria BC V8X 4Y7
4579 Chatterton Way
Victoria BC V8X 4Y7
Phone: (250) 658-0311
Email: Broadmead Care Society
Also, Broadmead is partners with the Vancouver Island Health Authority, you may want to contact them at patientcarequalityoffice@viha.ca to ask why they are not protecting Mrs. Palamaek and others like her in their jurisdiction. Below is an alphabetical list of MLA'S with E-mail Addresses, use the list to let the MLA's know they need to act about this issue.
Email: Broadmead Care Society
Also, Broadmead is partners with the Vancouver Island Health Authority, you may want to contact them at patientcarequalityoffice@viha.ca to ask why they are not protecting Mrs. Palamaek and others like her in their jurisdiction. Below is an alphabetical list of MLA'S with E-mail Addresses, use the list to let the MLA's know they need to act about this issue.
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