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Kamloops resident Stewart Streifel has the power of attorney for his mother who has dementia.

He said it took months of going around in circles in the medical system to get the assessment his mom needed to approve her for long-term care.

Dementia has the 84-year-old senior hearing voices and fearing someone is going to kill her. She has been living alone in a basement suite.

“I’ve been trying to have mom put into long-term care, to have someone looking out for her,” Streifel said. “I work out of town, my wife travels a lot and we live in a small house, we can’t take her in.”

Streifel’s mother was assessed in the early part of April, but not before weeks of frustration and fear for the family.

“There have been ongoing issues with this program, where they have to assess people before they can access long-term care, and the wait for assessments are ridiculous,” he said.

Streifel said he was trying to get an assessment done for his mother for a year but she didn’t qualify because she was still driving and therefore capable of independence.

“She shouldn’t have been (driving), it wasn’t safe, but a person is protected from anybody trying to stop them.”

He had great difficulty convincing his mother to go the mental health unit at Royal Inland Hospital, despite the fact she had been hearing voices many months.

When his mother barricaded herself in the bathroom earlier this year, convinced someone was going to wrap her in a blanket and beat her to death, Streifel said he went to the psychiatric hospital above Royal Inland Hospital and asked for advice.

“I was so frustrated, I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I was told to call Car40, which wasn’t available at the time, but they informed me if mom gets violent I can have her arrested and she’ll be taken to the hospital. She doesn’t have a violent bone in her body, but I guess mental issues can change that.”

Streifel called the RCMP and waited in his mother's driveway until two officers showed up and he explained the situation.

“One fella was my age and the other was a young one and both told me they were going through the same thing, they knew what I was up against. They were amazing, they got mom out of the bathroom and we convinced her it was best to go to the hospital.”

Streifel’s mom spent eight weeks in G6, the mental health ward, where she was stabilized.

“The staff in there were great, they were good at communicating with me, calling me back and giving me updates,” he said. “They got her turned around, stabilized as much as can be done with her condition.”

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The assessment for a long-term care placement still wasn’t done.

“I was told that because she was doing better, she didn’t qualify for long-term care because she didn’t need it,” Streifel said.

A couple of months ago, following treatment, his mom went home temporarily before being transferred to a senior’s living facility under the Interior Health Home and Community Care program, where Streifel said there were a number of concerning issues.

“There were continuous cancellations, every long weekend the day before and after no one comes to work, people don’t get the care they need. A couple of times I went, four workers were sitting on chairs playing with their phones, that really bugged me.”

In March, he got a phone call from a care aide saying his mom was having trouble breathing and feeling weak.

“She said I needed to come down here and deal with it. She should have called an ambulance. I reported her to the managers and they said she was disciplined.”

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Shortly after that Streifel went to meet a nurse who arrived at the building before him and called to let him know his mom fell down and was on the floor, and that she wasn’t allowed to pick her up.

“I get there and mom is on the floor talking to the nurse,” he said. “I checked her over and she was alright, she’d misjudged when she stepped off a stool she was sitting on," he said.

“I looked around the room. My mom has an incontinence problem and with dementia, now it just happens. Her bed and floor were covered with urine, her bathroom was a mess.”

Streifel said the assessment was put off again, this time because his mom was under trauma and would have to get better and have a clear mind. 

“There is an 84-year-old on the floor in urine, why can’t we assess that?” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

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A couple of days later, Streifel got a call from the home care facility informing him his mom was in an ambulance going to hospital after losing the ability to walk. She was in the emergency department for a few days before being placed in a room on the sixth floor.

“They found out she had an issue from an old injury and a UTI, she was put on antibiotics and remained in the surgical ward for almost 40 days. One doctor in there saw mom and thought maybe she had Parkinson's, it does run in our family.

“That doctor phoned me to tell me she’d changed mom’s medications, she’d no longer be taking meds for dementia. She’s no longer on anything the doctors in the psychiatric ward put her on and is now an absolute mess again, stressing out, shaking and calling me.”

The situation has caused Streifel months of mental and emotional stress.

“I can live with the fact she can’t walk and needs to be in a home, but I can’t live with the fact she’s crying and freaking out," he said.

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Streifel’s mom eventually got the assessment for a long-term care bed and is on a waiting list, but he doesn’t know when she’ll find a placement.

“She wants to go to Gemstone and they’re telling me it could be a three-year wait. There are short-term beds, as people die, they get a bed. It could be a week or two months before she gets one, there are no answers there.”

Streifel met with Kamloops MLAs Todd Stone and Peter Milobar earlier this month, trying to shed light on what seniors and their families are going through. He plans to start a social media group for people to share their problems, compile them and send them to the politicians.

“There are few individuals I’m angry at, the system is what I’m pissed off with, the way these assessments are required, leaving people hanging around taking up beds. I wouldn’t treat my dog like we treat the elderly in hospital.”

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To enter a publicly subsidized long-term care home, a health-care needs assessment has to be made by an Interior Health Home and Community Care Manager, according to the Interior Health website.

Access to long-term care services is based on the person’s need and risk, and is for adults who require 24-hour professional care because of physical disabilities, or mental and behavioural conditions including brain injuries and dementia.

Those at increased risk are allowed to go on interim waiting list for a care home in case a placement becomes available where they can stay until a placement in their preferred home of choice becomes available.

If it is determined someone needs long-term care after a hospital stay, a care manager will help them return home and provide supportive services, and assess their needs to start the access process.  Those with needs preventing the return home can be moved into a private pay long-term term care home while waiting for a publicly subsidized long-term care placement.

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iNFOnews.ca asked the Interior Health communications department general questions about how assessments are made. They asked for the name of the subject and said they looked into the case.

“We suggest reaching out to the family to ensure this information is accurate," said a media spokesperson with Interior Health. “Without being able to delve into the circumstances, we can’t provide information about this.”

Interior Health didn't answer the general questions about how the assessment process works. 

According to a recently released waitlist for long-term care home placements, facilities in Kamloops have a wait of anywhere between three to six months, and 18 to 24 months.  Several facilities in Kelowna are listed with wait times of up to two years.

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