Mother says son was ‘savagely bitten’ at Toronto-area group home amid staff strike

The mother of a man living in a Toronto-area group home at the centre of a bitter labour dispute says she is seeking accountability after he was “savagely bitten” on the neck by another resident.

Jan Beddoe says she was “absolutely furious” after the Dec. 23 attack on her 47-year-old son Chris at the home run by Central West Specialized Developmental Services. It’s a provincially funded supportive living community for adults with developmental disabilities, with satellite locations in Burlington, Halton Hills, Mississauga and Oakville.

The bite happened more than two months after about 40 residents were moved into the care home’s main facility near downtown Oakville to ensure there would be enough staff to provide round-the-clock care in anticipation of a strike by support staff.

The workers represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union walked off the job in mid-November, about 40 days after CWSDS requested a no-board report from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour. Since then, third-party agency staff have been working in the main Oakville facility to support residents.

Beddoe alleges the attack on Chris occurred in the upstairs part of his unit while all the staff working in that area were in a meeting. Chris had to reach the top of the stairs before anyone could hear him calling for help, she said.

Chris saw a nurse on site and was later taken to a hospital, where he received several stitches, Beddoe said. The Canadian Press reviewed photos of the bite, which revealed a deep wound that extends from his chin to the edge of his jaw.

“As soon as the incident happened, (I felt) terrible fear,” Beddoe said in an interview. “But once I knew he was all right and he was going to be all right, then I was just absolutely furious, beyond furious. I did not hear from the centre. I did not hear from house management.”

Beddoe said she blames the incident “fully on understaffing, some unqualified staffing … They don’t know these clients well enough to know their individualized needs.”

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She said Chris’s wound was partially closed with stitches and the open part needs to be packed with gauze on a daily basis, likely for another month.

CWSDS CEO Patricia Kyle wouldn’t comment on the bite, citing patient confidentiality, but she said that “supervision was in place at the time of the incident.”

The organization is “deeply proud of the high-quality, compassionate care we provide people with complex developmental needs,” Kyle wrote in an email to The Canadian Press.

Union spokesperson Jolene Cushman said OPSEU is aware of the incident.

“This is a dangerous situation that members have been warning could happen long before they went on strike,” she wrote in an email.

After the bite, Chris came home for two weeks. Beddoe said her family managed to have a “lovely Christmas,” but was in a “lot of shock.”

In addition to managing typical care for Chris, who has an insatiable appetite and significant dietary restrictions as a result of Prader-Willi syndrome, Beddoe said she was also tasked with bathing and cleaning his wound every day.

“My one daughter took a week off work to stay with me to help care for Chris because I can’t do it myself,” the 73-year-old said. “We just laid low and cared for him.”

Chris has since returned to the care home in Oakville and is now living in a different unit that doesn’t have any “high needs” or “high volatility” clients, Beddoe said. She had requested that in several letters she sent to the home’s management.

“He is very content not to be frightened,” she said, adding that Chris still hasn’t been interviewed by CWSDS staff for the incident report.

Kyle said in her statement that CWSDS has been “supporting and communicating extensively with the person supported and their family to address their safety and well-being.”

Still, Beddoe said she’s concerned about the level of care as the strike continues and agency staff remain as the residents’ primary caregivers. She said the lack of familiarity with residents’ specific needs is contributing to an unsafe environment. She’s also frustrated by what she describes as a lack of communication and transparency from CWSDS.

Beddoe isn’t the only one with concerns. In October, more than a dozen family members wrote a letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, asking him to help return their loved ones to their regular care homes after the move to the main facility in Oakville. The letter said residents were moved without their families’ consent and needed to be among regular staff who knew them.

Family members sounded the alarm again when front-line workers walked off the job in November, with some questioning the quality of care their loved ones would receive.

Before Chris was bitten, Beddoe’s daughter Shannon also wrote a letter to the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services about conditions at the care home.

When the issue was raised in the Ontario legislature in late November, Michael Parsa, the minister of children, community and social services, said the province requires every agency to “have strong contingency plans in place” to ensure the best care for those receiving support services.

In an emailed statement, the ministry said it conducts regular inspections of care agencies and that allegations of abuse or neglect can be sent through ReportON. It did not respond to questions about Chris’s bite or comment on allegations of unsafe conditions at CWSDS.

A resident died at the Oakville care home in December, as the union alleged conditions there had been worsening. Halton regional police have said the death is not considered to be suspicious.

On Jan. 10, OPSEU President JP Hornick sent a letter to CWSDS’s board of directors, urging them to “bear responsibility for the ongoing situation” at the care home. His requests included getting a fair deal for workers and addressing health and safety concerns via an emergency board meeting.

As the labour dispute drags on, what happened to Chris has caused panic among other residents’ families as well, Beddoe said.

“I think the feeling amongst everyone is: if this can happen to Chris, it can happen to anyone,” she said.