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Elder Abuse: The Story of Norma Stenson Part II

© Mary M. Alward

After the abuse on Norma was exposed, Jean and Lesley helped her move to another retirement in Brantford, Versa Care. This is a long term facility and is regulated by the Government of Ontario. The supplemental caregivers figured that Norma would be in good hands there.

It wasn't long until Norma indicated that she was being shaken. The two women once again installed a hidden camera and though the abuse wasn't as bad as it had been at Charlotte Villa, it was still elder abuse.

At 4 am one morning, a nurse threw Norma into her wheelchair and slammed her arm into the metal railing. The bruise that appeared on Norma's arm took weeks to heal. Jean and Lesley hesitated to approach the adminstrator at Versa Care, thinking that they would be labeled as trouble makers and life would be made difficult for both them and Norma. Instead, they took the tapes to the Brantford Police. The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care conducted an investigation and came to the conclusion that Norma was not being abused at Versa Care. However, the tapes also showed workers stealing from Norma's wallet and, in one incident, covering her face with a pillow and walking out of the room.

Jean and Lesley were shocked to find out that Canada's Criminal Code didn't touch on elder abuse. They knew from their training that shaking, hitting, intimidating or threats of any kind were against the law. They couldn't seem to make either the officials at Versa Care or the police to help them protect Norma.

Desperate, Jean and Lesley went to W5. They viewed the tapes and decided to run a show on Norma's abuse. There was a hue and cry all across the country. The people of Canada were furious that nothing was being done.

Not long after the airing of the show, Donna Kingelin, the vice president of long term care at Central Park Lodges, which is the company that operates both Charlotte Villa and Versa Care, appeared at the offices of W5 and requested to see the tapes. Though both facilities had refused to acknowledge that Norma had been, or was being abused, Kingelin made an about turn. She called Versa Care immediately and had the nurses who were guilty of abusing Norma sent home in the middle of their shift. Finally, something was being done.

Norma's story is not unfamiliar in Canada, I'm ashamed to say. Statistics Canada states that seven percent of all seniors are abused by caregivers or relatives. Not one province in this country has regulations that protect the elderly - and that is shameful.

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