Two Calgary women are angry, after learning their 84-year-old mother sustained a second-degree sunburn that has become dangerously infected while in the care of her nursing home.
Irene Britton is hospitalized at Rockyview with a blistering, infected burn. She became sunburned at an outing to the Stampede organized by her care home, the Father Lacombe Centre, on Tuesday.
Her daughter Holly Britton came to see her on Wednesday, and found her suffering and in pain from both the burn and a bladder infection.
Her mother says she was not taken to use the bathroom during the six-hour Stampede outing. Her family believes this caused the bladder infection.
“The infection spread throughout her body into her face, and so when her blisters erupted, they infected and now her eye is swollen shut,” says Holly Britton.
CTV spoke with the Father Lacombe Centre. It is launching its own investigation into what happened on the Stampede outing.
The facility’s policy is to make sure any resident is properly sunscreened if they’re outside, and Britton was wearing a hat. The Centre is looking into why she did not have an opportunity to use the washroom.
The facility’s physician examined Britton and says it isn’t determined that her sunburn was the underlying cause of her skin infection. Her family disagrees.
“It’s disappointing,” says Britton’s daughter Cheryl Biblow, “She was outside all day. Obviously there was nothing wrong with her before that.”
Irene Britton was paired with a volunteer while at the Stampede, not a care aide.
Publically-funded care home rules would not have allowed a volunteer to care for someone with Britton’s medical needs. The Father Lacombe Centre is a private, not-for-profit home, so its governing guidelines aren’t as specific.
The family wants all facilities in Alberta to be held to the same standards.
