Canadian Blind Woman Trapped In Room With Bedbugs For Weeks

A British Columbia senior care home has been accused of leaving a blind woman in her bedbug infected apartment for two weeks.

Rita B., a 94-year-old woman living in Sienna Senior Living’s The Cascades facility, was allegedly abandoned to be a “blood buffet” for two weeks over the holidays during December 2018. While she was confined to her room, the bedbugs in her mattress allegedly multiplied.

Employees of the care facility were reportedly told to keep Rita in the dark about what was happening, according to emails to British Columbia authorities. One staffer was allegedly disturbed by what she saw, prompting her to take pictures of the situation and send them to Rita’s daughter, Anne-Marie B.

When staffers sent Anne-Marie pictures and videos of the bedbugs, blood stains, and dead bugs in her mother’s room, she reportedly couldn’t believe what was happening. After replaying the video multiple times, she truly understood the terrible conditions her mother was living in.

“I’m so grateful that [the employees] were willing to stand up for their beliefs, for doing the right thing, the moral thing,” Anne-Marie told CBC. “I could not believe that a facility in Canada … would allow something so hideous to happen.”

Anne-Marie was reportedly contacted about a single bedbug in her mother’s bed on Dec. 20, 2018 when the head nurse told her that a resident next door to Rita had brought bedbugs into the facility. At first, she assumed they had the issue taken care of and that there was nothing left for her to do.

Unfortunately, later investigation by health authorities reportedly showed that employees at the facility had identified “10 small bite marks” on Rita’s body, “blood spots” on her mattress, and “five possible bed bugs” on the floor of her room.

Following this discovery, the staff was reportedly told to wash and change Rita and a pest control company was hired. Unfortunately, Rita’s apartment was reportedly not cleaned – the pest control workers allegedly only heat treated and vacuumed the neighboring unit. In Rita’s apartment, an ant trap was reportedly placed between her mattress and box spring in an attempt to trap the bedbugs.

In order to contain the bedbug outbreak from reaching the ears of family members, Cascade management allegedly told their employees to lie to Rita. They were reportedly told to say that she was sick and couldn’t celebrate the holidays with her friends or other residents. If staff violated these instructions, they were reportedly threatened with termination.

When the issue eventually blew up and Anne-Marie was informed, Cascades’ executive director was allegedly unhelpful. The executive reportedly told Anne-Marie that Sienna Senior Living wasn’t sure the best way to handle the bedbug problem and complained about how much time and money it was costing him to deal with the outbreak.

Sienna Senior Living reportedly faces several lawsuits for their treatment of residents.

Do you have a loved one living in a senior care home? Let us know what you think of this situation in the comment section below.

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