Claims of abuse at Oakview Place care home detailed by family

Correction issued June 29, 2022: This story has been corrected to say the WRHA was made aware of the allegations in June 2022. Extendicare was made aware in February, 2022.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) and Winnipeg police are investigating abuse allegations at the Oakview Place care home.

CityNews spoke to a former employee of the personal care home who described a toxic workplace where more than a dozen residents were allegedly abused by two health-care aides.

BACKGROUND: Two employees accused of abuse at Extendicare Oakview Place care home

Neither the WRHA nor the company, Extendicare, have released details about the nature of the abuse. A former employee at Oakview Place, who wished to remain anonymous, told CityNews they tried to report incidents on four different occasions.

“They would say, ‘we are not doing this today,’ or they would try to make up excuses for stuff that was very clearly abuse and very clearly neglect, probably because of lack of staffing because we could not keep up with the residents’ needs,” they explained.

WATCH: Former Oakview Place employee describes toxic workplace

Details of alleged abuse from 2018

Charisse Fredette’s grandmother was a resident at Oakview. Fredette was not able to do an interview, but she provided details of alleged abuse towards her loved one.

In 2018, Fredette detailed in a Facebook message to CityNews that she went to visit her grandmother and noticed she had black bruises all over her wrists, arms, and upper body. Staff reportedly told Fredette that her grandmother had fallen, but with the nature of the bruises, she doesn’t believe that story.

Her family put forward a complaint, but as quickly as the case opened, it was closed. Fredette claims the family wasn’t even notified.

“Elder abuse in any form is completely unacceptable and the fact that it actually happened in this home is a travesty, and the fact that it happened to this extent is a complete nightmare,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, the director of geriatrics at Sinai Health and the University Health Network in Toronto.

Though the allegations have not been proven, Sinha says the reported abuse represents a major failure in protecting the most vulnerable in Manitoba.

“I can’t imagine what those residents were going through who experienced this abuse and how isolated and alone they must have felt,” said Sinha. “Especially when their families didn’t even know and were in a position where they could’ve advocated and supported for this to be dealt with sooner rather than later.”

WRHA made aware of allegations in June

The allegations involve 15 residents and were first brought forward to Extendicare management by a whistleblower in February.

The allegations were brought to the WRHA by another whistleblower on June 10.

“There was a breakdown in process, and for that, we unreservedly apologize,” said Sandra Goers, Extendicare’s director of operation quality for Western Canada and the regional director for Manitoba. “Processes were not followed and that became evident.”

Goers says Extendicare has put additional measures in place to prevent something like this from happening again.

Gina Trinidad from the WRHA says teams from the authority have conducted numerous unannounced visits to Oakview Place since the allegations surfaced.

“We have been speaking directly with residents and staff members and observing care experiences and the results have generally been positive. Our site visits will continue and we will continue to work with the leadership to make sure the residents are safe.”

But the former employee CityNews spoke with says this should be a wake-up call to the public who put their trust in personal care homes.

“You need to be there, you need to be going every week, you need to be calling and making sure your loved ones in these homes are taken care of because too often they are dropped off and the family rarely comes,” they said. “Unfortunately, these are the ones that fall through the cracks and become victims of the abuse.”