The complaint alleges that during the pandemic, staff removed the door handles of certain units in the home. The police announced on Wednesday that they had charged Tawab Karimi, 40, from Oshawa, Ontario. He was charged with two counts of illegal imprisonment. He has been released, which means he must meet certain conditions and appear in court. The police confirmed to CBC News that Karimi was the general manager at the time of the incident.

According to an exclusive report A report from the city news In February, an anonymous employee said that a manager of the nursing home ordered maintenance personnel to remove the door handles of some residents’ suites that tested positive for COVID-19.

This private nursing home is owned by Verve Senior Living, and its president and CEO confirmed the incident in a statement on February 12, but did not explain why the handle was removed.

David Bird said in the statement: “This violates our agreement and practices. Once we became aware of this incident, we immediately reinstalled all residents’ door handles.”

Media reports at the time stated that the door handle had been closed for several days, trapping residents in their rooms until a headquarters employee discovered the situation and lodged a complaint.

Bird also stated in the statement that Karimi was immediately fired and no longer serves as the general manager.

Nursing home authorities investigation

At the time, the Ontario Ministry of Seniors and Accessibility condemned the incident, calling it “completely unacceptable.”

The ministry stated that they contacted the Nursing Home Regulatory Authority (RHRA) to ensure “a thorough investigation.”

RHRA inspected the house on February 4.

This Final inspection report The statement dated March 2 stated, “The operator of the house failed to protect the residents from abuse. Evidence collected during the inspection showed that the operator removed the doorknob to restrict any safety from the care plan. Measures the residents.”

Bird said at the time that all handles have been replaced and an investigation is underway to determine how long residents may be confined in the room.

The outbreak lasted 21 days

“There is absolutely no reason to remove the door handle-forever. We never lock or prevent the free movement of our residents,” Bird said in a February statement.

According to COVID-19 data in the Durham area, White Cliffe declared an outbreak on January 15 and ended on February 4.

Bird said that if residents have cognitive impairments and do not fully understand the measures taken to help curb the spread of COVID-19, other agreements will be implemented, such as roaming belts, local security alerts and stop signs. He said these measures will deter homeless residents.

Dave Hauch, the long-term care coordinator of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), said this incident means that regulations governing nursing homes need to catch up with regulations governing long-term care homes.

He added that it is important to protect whistleblowers, so staff can speak freely and ask questions without fear of retaliation.

“The current protective measures allow us to combat retaliation, but do not allow anonymous complaints,” Houch said.

“There is a regrettable culture of fear in the industry, which is why there is a need to more clearly protect employees-even family members-to come forward.”