Pamela Punch has her own unit on the third floor of a Halifax seniors home, but she says she has to sleep in the common room due to ongoing issues with the only elevator in the building. “People eventually began to find me in here and say, ‘What are you doing?’ I said I had to because the elevator is breaking so often. It was broken the whole weekend before last. All this weekend, days during the week. It’s just been insane,” says Punch. Roughly 100 seniors live in the Almon Place building in Halifax. “A huge number of people use mobility aids. They’re using walkers, they’re using wheelchairs, they’re using canes. A lot of them have other issues like breathing issues, heart issues, and they simply can’t do the stairs either. Some people have not been out of their apartments for a long time,” Punch says. She says the elevator broke eight times last week. As she recovers from a knee replacement, the 79-year-old says she could no longer make the trip down two flights of stairs to get to her medical appointments. “I’m just learning to walk again. It’s difficult enough to go in a straight line, but on the stairs, it’s really hard,” she says. “It’s very stressful. We have had people who deliver groceries and things say if this continues, there will be no more deliveries.” Charbel Daniel, president of Northwood Grouphome Companies, acknowledged the elevator’s issues and says it’s now fixed. “The issues that have risen in the last week, (the elevator company) has arrived and shown up every day to repair the elevator when needed … these failures over the summer, we know it’s disrupted people’s lives. It’s made it hard for residents to do something as basic as going home. And that’s really not our standard,” says Daniel. “The elevator at Almon’s Place was installed in 2006, which is when the building was constructed, about 20 years ago. And we are aware that it is reaching the end of its working life. For that reason, we have earlier this year already signed a contract with TK to modernize and replace the elevator. That work is planned for later this year. “We just haven’t really communicated the dates to our residents because we want to move up to dates and we’re trying to do it sooner. But that’s already scheduled work that we have planned, and we’re hoping to do it sooner, because having an elevator and not working for someone who needs to get upstairs is not a solution.” Residents also have concerns about a lack of air-conditioning. “It gets so hot in here. The stairwells alone last week were 30 degrees,” says Punch. She says when trying to communicate these concerns with management, she received “nothing.” “It’s not good for physical or mental health for any one of us. We’re all suffering that way. And I wish I could afford to leave the building. I would love to,” she says. Punch claims management told her she could no longer sleep in the common room. “They really tried to get me to leave, told me I couldn’t do what I was doing, and that I was going to have to call my son and get him to come from Montreal to help me,” she says. When asked about Punch’s claims, Daniel refuted them, saying Punch will not be kicked out of the common room. “Any and all conversations I have been part of are in support of making sure that she has access to a comfortable place to stay, and we’re ensuring that she has supports to access her home, which is ideally where she’d rather be. She shouldn’t have any concerns of having to be kicked out or removed,” he says. “At Northwood, we can always do better. That doesn’t mean that we treat anybody disrespectfully or unprofessional. I’m not aware of any of the specifics. “I know that we can always do better on the communication front and ensuring that the residents and tenants are aware of what works are happening, what’s coming, what needs to be done.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
