Non-profit calls on government to investigate alleged neglect at Stephenville care home
CBC
The Newfoundland and Labrador Association for Community Living is calling on the provincial government to investigate the alleged abuse and neglect of a disabled woman inside a Stephenville care home.
Allison Decker had been living in a basement apartment in the western Newfoundland town, and was under 24-hour care from staff of the Bay St. George Residential Support Board.
Decker, 46, developed intellectual disabilities after suffering multiple seizures that caused significant brain damage just days after she was born.
Minette Firth, Decker's sister, recently told CBC News she was shocked when she arrived at her sister's care home in July and found there to be no television or books and a locked refrigerator.
Decker also told Firth she had been locked inside the apartment for hours.
Ray McIsaac, a board member with the Newfoundland and Labrador Association for Community Living, a non-profit that offers resources for people with intellectual disabilities, told CBC News his organization has for decades helped get people away from institutional life and move them to community-based support systems.
After learning of Decker's alleged situation, he fears that progress is backsliding.