Heightened awareness at Saskatoon care homes in wake of sexual assault allegation

Special care homes in Saskatoon are still wrestling with the fallout from sexual assault allegations at a care home in the Stonebridge neighbourhood.

There are more than a dozen special care homes in the city. The management at the homes are in regular communication about issues of common concern.

In July, 72-year-old Donald Richardson was charged with two counts of sexual assault. It's alleged that he gainedentry to a home where he was not a resident, confined two female residents in a washroom and then exposed himself.

He returns to court in September.

• Man accused of sexually assaulting 2 seniors may have attacked others: Saskatoon police

For care homes, theallegations striketo the heart of how they operate. The homes try to balance providing access to friends and family of residents with security designed to preventing predators from getting into what can be a vulnerable population.

"Any time we get information that relates to our residents' safety, we want to take a look at it, deal with it, get it out to our staff and look at what we're doing. Is there more that we can be doing?" said Brandon Little, executive director at Oliver Lodge.

"We're sharing ideas, sharing strategies, and in some cases sharing instances or events that people can learn from."

Jubilee Residences runs Porteous Lodge and Stensrud Lodge. It's chief executive officer says the allegations did not lead to widespread changes, but rather a reinforcing of practices already in place.

"Our staff are vigilant and the doors are locked at 7. We have various codes to alert us if there is potential concern in the building," said Yvonne Morgan.

"We rehearse those, we practise them. We have security cameras and staff on thefloor."

Stonebridge Crossing is the home where the alleged assaults happened. It's owned by Ontario-based Extendicare. The company has since tightened access to its building.

"As a result of this situation, we have limited access to the community by securing the entrance doors during regular business hours.We continue to secure the building in the evening and overnight," the company said in a statement.

City police are asking anyone with any concerns of similar assaults to contact them. Investigators are concerned there may be other victims.