An apology  has been issued by the Region of Peel after an elderly woman was trapped for 29 hours in an elevator at the Malton Village Long Term Care Centre.  Three investigations have been ordered into the incident.  Emil Kolb is the chair of the Region of Peel.  He says the 87 year old woman was stuck in the elevator from the evening of December 23rd until about 2 o’clock Christmas morning.  Kolb says the woman was dropped off by family at the front doors of the nursing home near Derry Road East and Highway 27, but did not arrive on her floor.  Staff thought she was still out with her family.  Eventually after a search of the Long Term Care Centre,  it was discovered she had become trapped in the elevator.

Susan Eng is the Vice president of CARP  – a new vision of Aging.  She says the woman should have been located within a short amount of time.  “We shouldn’t be relying on the resilience of our nursing home residents.  In a circumstance like this, we need to make sure that the systems that we pay for should be in place to make sure people are safe.  It’s very little to ask.”

The elderly woman is now being observed closely by staff.  A doctor conducted a checkup on December 27th.