When Alfredo Bonaldi was found near death in his room at Summerland Seniors Village, something had gone badly wrong.
The 91-year-old man, in the independent living section at the care facility, had missed his scheduled meals for three days.
He is now at Penticton Regional Hospital where he is being treated for kidney failure, a staph infection and salmonella poisoning.
Although Bonaldi was in independent living, his absence should have been noticed much sooner.
The Interior Health Authority and the provincial Ministry of Health are working together to conduct an investigation into the incident.
This investigation is important in order to prevent incidents such as this one from ever happening again.
Answers are needed.
Bonaldi and his family need to know what went wrong. The residents of the centre and their families need to know what will be done to ensure it will not happen in the future. And the community needs to know the care facilities are in fact providing the level of care one would expect.
As Canada’s population continues to age, there will be an increasing need for facilities which can provide various levels of care to older residents. Facilities must be dependable and the quality of care must be constant, at all facilities.
The investigation is far from complete, but it appears there was a breakdown in communication between those on staff who noticed him missing and the care staff who needed to check on him.
It is important to identify the problems which led to this situation. It is even more important to examine the operations of the care facility and then determine measures to prevent similar problems.