Alberta Unions and opposing Health Care officials are embattled in a he said, she said argument over health care. And the story just hit the national spotlight.

It all started with a horrific story. Via Sun Media:

A patient immobilized in bed, waking up to find mice eating her face.

…the mouse-bite victim lives in the dementia unit at St. Therese Villa, a modern 200-bed facility with a history of problems with mice and bed bugs, blamed by some on a policy which allows residents to bring their own furniture with them from home.

The senior, who can’t move, was allegedly saved on Sept. 1 by staff doing overnight checks at the Covenant Health facility.

?the patient has been treated and is recovering, though she remains emotionally distraught.”

Taking a page out of Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthew’s playbook, Alberta Health Minister Fred Home

“said he is ?very angry? and vowed to get to the bottom of what happened.”

The health minister went on to admit that staff at St. Therese Villa had previously informed management about mice issues; but nothing was ever done about the problem.

However, recently the company behind the St. Therese Villa has issued a statement claiming that there is “no evidence” that shows that the client was bitten on the face.

This has promoted a back and forth battle pitting labour and some segments of the population on one side; and St. Therese Villa and one would assume the Alberta government on the other side.

Standard issues have arisen, as union members are calling for increased staffing across homes. As is typically the case, funding has been cut province wide and finger pointing from both sides is taking place.

If nothing else, we’re beginning to see a trend forming. Abuse, mistreatment, and other stories seem to pop-up on almost a weekly basis. The argument is always the same; funding. The population wants it; the government doesn’t have it (or won’t allocate it). At some point this is going to have to change, otherwise we’ll see story after story of elder abuse across the entire country.

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2013/09/10/edmonton-mice-senior-care-home-tour.html

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/09/10/alberta-investigating-long-term-care-home-after-senior-bit-on-face-by-mouse

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/09/20130909-143947.html