But for one woman living in a Canadian nursing home didn’t have the chance to spend the holidays with friends; instead, she spent 29 hours stuck in the home’s elevator.
As reported in the Sun News Network, 87 year-old Rosalie Rowsell, a resident of Malton Village Long Term Care Facility, a Toronto assisted living community, returned to the community in the evening of December 23 after spending time with family.
It was then Rowsell is believed to have been stuck in an off-duty residential elevator , and although she did not return to her room that evening, staff believed she was still with her family.
Rowsell was found 29 hours, still in the elevator, after her family realized she never made it home. The news source reports that she could not reach the elevator’s emergency button to call for assistance.
She was eventually found on December 25 in the elevator, and after being taken to hospital, she was released the same day. As a result of the incident, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is conducting an investigation to determine what went wrong.
The assisted living community is apologetic, and vows to prevent any such incidents in the future.
“We sincerely regret that this gap in our duty resulted in endangering a resident and causing her family distress,” Emil Kolb of the Region of Peel, which operates the facility, told the news source.