Nanaimo seniors home without working elevator for four days

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Seniors, with mobility issues on upper floors, say they feel trapped

 

Seniors say all the talk, at Long Lake Chateau this week, has been about the retirement home’s only elevator, which has broken down. It’s left some of it’s 135 residents feeling stranded.

“I’m concerned about everybody up there,” says resident Bev Browne. “Cause some of them haven’t been off that floor for four days.”

In all the promotional pictures of Long Lake Chateau you won’t find one of it’s only elevator. What some call the “achilles heel” of the home because it gets used so much.

“Meal time is the hardest cause there’s only the one elevator,” says Browne. “So a lot of us use the stairs while we can.”

But getting around has become much more challenging since the home’s elevator broke down Wednesday.

“A lot of them are in wheelchairs and walkers and they can’t get out,” says Browne.

“She called me crying,” says Molly Smith, a close friend of woman in her 90’s, who hasn’t left the third floor since the elevator broke.  “She’s quite frail and so she missed a very important appointment which made it even worse and so yeah she’s very upset.”

Smith says the broken elevators has also posed problems for BC Ambulance staff when they’ve been called to the building.

“Personally I think it’s unacceptable. I mean it should’ve been fixed a long time ago,” says Smith. “They should actually have two elevators because of this situation.”

Everyone says staff has been doing what it can to make the best of a difficult situation. That includes taking food up the stairs to residents but all are looking forward to a working elevator.

“The parts are on their way,” says Browne. “So it might be another two or three days yet.”

Residents say the elevator has broken down in the past but never for this long.

Parent company Atria Retirement Canada says it’s working as quickly as it can to get it’s elevator operating again.

A statement from the company goes on to say, “In the meantime, we are taking a number of steps to minimize disruption and continue the same level of service to which our residents are accustomed. The safety, comfort and well-being of our residents are our top priorities, as always.”

Kendall HansonKendall Hanson

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