Seniors at Ross Payant home in Assiniboia concerned for dementia residents

Seniors at the Ross Payant home in Assiniboia are expressing concern for dementia residents, noting how some people need more supervision but that is lacking.

They noted that people with dementia are wandering around unsupervised and there isn't enough staff to help.

Jim Lawrence, who lives in the Ross Payant home, said residents with dementia are barging into his room, sometimes late at night.

In a video supplied Wednesday by the Opposition NDP, Lawrence related how one aggressive person with dementia nearly knocked him out of his wheelchair and another urinated in porridge in the dining room.

"I didn't come here to be abused and pushed around," Lawrence, 85, said on the video.

Lawrence said he believes the problem is that there isn't enough staff to keep the doors closed to a special dementia unit at the facility.

But Health Minister Dustin Duncan said that's not the case, noting staff levels at the care home have been almost the same since 2006.

Duncan says people with aggressive forms of dementia have been moved out of the facility and the remaining residents deserve access to the same amenities as everyone else.

"There are still residents with dementia in this facility but it's not unlike any other facility in our province," Duncan said. "This is just allowing those residents, on a 24-hour basis, to be able to access the amenities of the facility, as well as being able to interact with the other residents."

NDP Leader Cam Broten said the province needs to address staffing issues.

"This is about the need for this government to heed this wake up call, once again," Broten said. "You don't have people coming forward like this, talking about the things they're talking about, without legitimate, real concerns."

Broten said specially designed units for residents with different needs makes it safer for all the residents of a facility.