WARNING: This story contains graphic details and images.
When Norma Wensley was admitted to a continuing care facility in central Alberta, her family felt fortunate she had been granted a placement so close to home.
Her children now say Wensley spent a traumatizing 10 months at Bethany Meadows in Camrose, Alta., during which her most basic needs including hygiene, quality of life and comfort often went unmet.
Wensley, 88, died Feb. 11, of septic shock caused by an untreated bladder infection.
Wensley’s case has prompted a string of investigations and audits at Bethany Meadows, a private accredited continuing care home operated by The Bethany Group, about 100 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.
Her children are joining advocates and health-care critics in calling for more rigorous enforcement of continuing care standards in Alberta, and improved legislation to safeguard the elderly.
Wensley’s daughter Leona Heisler said Alberta’s continuing care system is broken and fails to hold operators accountable.
She wants more speed and transparency in care standard investigations, and for stronger sanctions when infractions are found.
“We’re warehousing our elderly,” said Heisler, who spoke on behalf of her four siblings in an interview with CBC News. “Where is the dignity?”
Bethany Meadows management declined to comment on Wensley’s case, citing patient confidentiality, but told CBC News that the facility is committed to providing its residents the best care possible.
Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare, said the poor standard of care alleged in Wensley’s death is not unique to her case but prevalent in continuing care facilities across Alberta.
He said chronic understaffing, underfunding and a reactive complaint-driven system, have created systemic issues where overworked staff are unable to meet the needs of residents.
He said these issues have been exacerbated by changes to the Continuing Care Act, which took effect in April 2024 and eliminated the previous requirement that mandated continuing care residents receive at least 1.9 hours of care each day.
“We’ve gutted the standards. So what are they even enforcing at this point?”
Alberta must reinstate minimum care hours thresholds and adopt proactive audits or stories like Wensley’s will become increasingly common, Gallaway cautioned.
“We’ve created a chronic, industry-wide problem. And people fall through the cracks.”
An investigation under Alberta Health’s continuing care health service standards (CCHSS) — launched last November and completed after Wensley’s death — found a number of non-compliance infractions, including a lack of protocols to maintain infection control and basic hygiene including bathing and oral care for residents.
The CCHSS set the minimum requirement operators in the continuing care system must comply with.
Documents from the CCHSS inspections show the operator was ordered to develop a series of action plans to ensure the non-compliance issues were addressed.
The family has also filed complaints with Alberta’s Protection for Persons in Care (PPC) office and Patient Relations Department at Alberta Health Services.
In response to their complaint to AHS, the family received a brief email last week from a patient care co-ordinator saying the office had spoken with Bethany Meadows management regarding the recent investigations and that “no negative outcomes” were reported.
They are awaiting a formal response from the PPC investigation.
CBC News requested comment from AHS and Minister of Assisted Living and Social Services Jason Nixon and instead were issued a statement from Assisted Living Alberta, the new government agency charged with overseeing continuing care in the province.
“Assisted Living Alberta takes situations of this nature very seriously,” the statement reads. “Due to patient privacy, we are unable to speak about the details of this case.”
Wensley, described by family as witty and kind, grew up on the family farm in Camrose where she developed a love of the outdoors, gardening, baking and animals.
She married George Wensley in 1953 and together they had five children and enjoyed many years of retirement before his death to cancer in 2020.
Wensley had spent her working years at a previous care facility of Bethany Meadows, spending more than four decades inside the kitchens.
Following a stroke in January 2024 that left her hospitalized for three months, she was placed in Bethany Meadows long-term care.
Heisler blames inadequate staffing and poor training for leaving her mother’s needs often overlooked.
The family’s allegations are detailed in a series of failed inspection reports issued by CCHSS investigators and formal complaints filed with the PPC, as well as documents obtained by CBC News.
Heisler alleges that staff put her mom in a diaper soon after admission but her mother had never needed one before. She claims that staff would often leave her mother waiting for up to an hour to use the toilet, causing her to soil herself.
She alleges that her mother would often be left alone, dangling from a mechanical lift above the toilet as overworked staff worked to complete their rounds.
As detailed in her formal complaints, Heisler said her mother came into Bethany Meadows weighing 120 pounds. When she died, she was 74 pounds.
Heisler said for months the staff would only feed her mother pureed food, in spite of Wensley and her family’s wishes.
Heisler said her mother spent most of her days in bed. Unable to walk unassisted, she relied on a wheelchair. But Heisler said staff refused to order her one, but instead gave her access to an oversized chair on loan that she was reticent to use for fear of falling.
According to her formal complaint, Heisler said her mother’s left hand, damaged by the stroke, had atrophied and her ability to stand worsened without access to physical therapy.
Photographs provided by the family show her mother’s fingernails cracked and jagged, some detached, others digging into the flesh of her palms.
The family visited almost every night to feed and wash her, and hired companions to spend time with Wensley each morning.
“She was in bed a lot. More than anybody should be,” Heisler said.
“She really was with somebody most of the time and was still very afraid to be there.”
Following up on the family’s complaint, inspectors with CCHSS made an unannounced visit to the facility last November, resulting in a series of non-compliance orders.
Reports from the inspection show the facility had failed to ensure each resident’s care plan was completed and that such care plans would address each resident’s mental, physical, emotional needs while also failing to detail their legal representative and any necessary medical interventions they require.
Other issues uncovered during the November inspection included a lack of infection prevention and control procedures, a lack of oral care for clients and failing to provide bathing at minimum twice each week. The facility had failed to properly document its use of restraints and its risk management protocols.
The facility was also sanctioned for failing to provide residents life enrichment services such as recreational or spiritual programming.
Heisler said her mother felt invisible to the staff.
“Not just her but everybody was fading away,” she said. “There was no stimulation.”
According to the provincial database, the infractions uncovered in November 2024 were rectified by the spring.
But Wensley’s children said those improvements came too late.
In the weeks before her death, she was taken to hospital complaining of escalating pain following a urinary tract infection.
As detailed in their formal complaint to PPC, the family alleges that when Wensley was admitted to hospital doctors discovered that staff at the care home had placed her catheter in her vagina, not her urethra.
Wensley returned to Bethany Meadows but her condition continued to deteriorate.
Heisler said her mother’s catheter became increasingly discoloured and she became disoriented, unable to speak coherently.
Trips to the bathroom revealed signs of infection but the family alleges that staff told them there was no reason for concern.
“They were always putting a catheter in her and then they would leave it forever,” Heisler said.
In a statement to CBC News, The Bethany Group CEO Carla Beck extended her condolences to the family, but declined to comment on the specifics of the case.
In response to the allegations raised, the facility – which provides both long-term care and supportive living accommodations to about 100 residents in Camrose – has “fully participated” in the audits and investigations, Beck wrote.
“These reviews identified some areas for improvement, which we addressed promptly, and overall found that we are meeting the required care standards.
“We continue to focus on refining our processes, particularly in the area of documentation, to ensure we consistently meet the highest standards of care.”
One February morning, Wensley simply would not wake up, Heisler recalls. She was taken to hospital where doctors discovered the fatal infection.
She died after four days in palliative care.
“I understand my mom was 88 and she wasn’t going to live forever, but she didn’t need to die that way,” she said
“There’s a lot of guilt about having her in there. My dad made us promise that we were going to look after mom.”
