Leona Esau was upset as she stood in her uncle's room at the Jubilee Lodge last Sunday.
The man she had visited two days prior was now sporting ugly bruises along nearly the entire stretch between his wrist and elbow on both arms.
"You hear horror stories, but when they hit home like this it's even worse," Esau said.
Calvin Courtoreille, 82, has been in the University Hospital of Northern B.C. since January, suffering from kidney problems. He was moved to the residential care side a month ago and receives regular dialysis sessions.
But before heading into a dialysis treatment Sunday afternoon, his family called the police.
According to Courtoreille, an employee - later identified as a nurse's aide - struck him on the arms June 8 in an attempt to make him let go of the bedside railing to which he was clinging. He alleges that she then lowered the railing with his arm still inserted between the bars.
"She was trying to put me up and make me stand up - I couldn't. So she started screaming, 'You're not going to bugger up my schedules,'" Courtoreille recalled. "She just kept after me... but I was hollering, too. She slammed those things down, I got my hands out and that was it."
Courtoreille's wife Louise said she typically visits her husband every day, but was at home sick when the alleged assault took place.
"I feel bad now for not coming in [Saturday]," added Esau, who was tending to her aunt who recently had both hips replaced.
The family has since spoken to the police as well as Northern Health's director of community and residential care. They are also in the process of obtaining a lawyer.
Prince George RCMP spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass confirmed the police received a report of a possible assault from the Jubilee Lodge.
"We've entered into an investigation as a result of a report," Douglass said.
Northern Health is also aware of an official complaint being lodged, said spokeswoman Eryn Collins.
"We take all resident and family concerns very seriously," she said, adding staff are "working directly with the family to have their concerns addressed from whatever perspective that Northern Health is able to do that and co-operating with any other investigations that are underway."
Esau said the family wants to see charges laid against the employee.
"There's no excuse for that whatsoever. You never lay a hand on anybody else, no matter what the situation is. Especially in a nursing home," she said. "Those poor people, they can't fight for themselves. They can't protect themselves in any way."
It's up the RCMP to recommend charges to the Crown based on the results of the investigation.
Courtoreille's roommate, who didn't wish to be named, said he heard the altercation between the employee and Courtoreille from the other side of the dividing curtain.
