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Bev Stone - Source: ONE News -
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The MidCentral District Health Board is defending its decision to shut down a Palmerston North rest home after allegations an elderly woman was tied to a bed.
The family of 103-year-old Mira Letts is outraged at the move, claiming she was getting adequate care.
Bev Stone says she was shocked and disgusted when she saw the photo of her mother tied to a bed at the Rose A Lea resthome in the media.
"I felt our privacy had been invaded, I felt she had definitely had her privacy invaded," she says.
Stone defends the actions of the rest home owners Joyce and Bryan Wenmoth.
"It wasn't a punishment .. it was a therapeutic treatment to keep her leg straight," she says.
The picture, taken by a former worker at Rose A Lea, prompted the MidCentral District Health Board to terminate its contract with the rest home and 13 residents were instantly transferred to other facilities.
"Because there were a range of other significant issues we were compelled to appoint a temporary manager and then go the next step which is unprecedented for this DHB," says Mike Grant from the MidCentral District Health Board.
The DHB is looking into allegations about the standard of hygiene and insufficient staff training.
It is also investigating another Palmerston North rest home, Rimu Lodge, owned by the Wenmoths'.
Martin Taylor, from the Aged Care Association, says the move upsets the residents.
"The residents were happy with the care, and to close a place down and break up a whole community without consultation so swiftly is actually very very hard on elderly people," says Martin Taylor from the Aged Care Association.
Mira Letts grandson Stuart Stone worked at Rose A Lea for three years. He says the facility was clean.
But a former worker ONE News also spoke to, questioned the cleaning regime.
"Maybe another day a week that the cleaning lady could have come in .. but I never felt the place was a filthy hole," says volunteer worker Janice Weatherhead.
The Stone family is planning to take their concerns to the Privacy Commissioner over the publication of the photo.
