Care home anger falls on Duncan
The pain in Nancy Macfarlane’s voice echoed off the marble pillars in the legislature’s rotunda as she talked about the 30-centimetre bedsore that her late mother, Margaret Warholm, had acquired in Regina’s Santa Maria Senior Citizens’ Home.
“If we had known how bad her back really was, we would have done something,” a tearful Macfarlane said Wednesday, referring to the raw, fleshy bedsore she photographed after her mother was admitted to the Regina General Hospital. “But we weren’t told until we saw it in the hospital.”
That was three days before the 74-year-old Warholm — malnourished and weighing 89 pounds, according to her medical report — died on Oct. 6, 2013.
Many see the Saskatchewan legislature as a place of anger, sanctimony, studious reflection or maybe even frivolity. But the often-overlooked emotion — especially present in the rotunda when woeful tales like Margaret Warholm’s are retold into the microphones of reporters — is sadness.
Health Minister Dustin Duncan’s problem is that he has virtually asked to take ownership of every sad tale like that of Warholm.
She had been a Santa Maria resident for two years, having transferred from a long-term care home because of her spinal stenosis. Her pain and mobility issues were so severe she could no longer feed herself or even turn over in bed.
Besides the sorrow and the feeling of guilt that there had to be something more they could have done to ease the suffering their mother endured in her final days, Warholm’s children brought a lot of anger to the legislature.
They are angry over both the medical care and staff at Santa Maria — the latter, the family said, did not pay enough attention to their mother and weren’t forthright about her bedsores. Warholm’s medical records show she had recent spinal fractures — possibly from a fall.
Santa Maria’s executive director admitted earlier this month that “a number of matters related to the care of Mrs. Warholm should have been better managed.”
But the reason Warholm’s children were at the legislature Wednesday was to express their anger toward Duncan. “He failed us,” Leanna Macfarlane said.
Admittedly, such sadness and anger expressed towards the minister can be misplaced. This is somewhat the case for Warholm’s family.
Duncan surely cannot be personally blamed for the specific treatment Warholm received in the Santa Maria. Moreover, it was Duncan who first suggested the case be investigated by the provincial ombudsman and on Thursday morning he wrote to the ombudsman requesting a formal investigation.
Duncan was respectful, sympathetic and professional Wednesday, unlike unhelpful caucus colleagues Nancy Heppner and Doreen Eagles, who heckled in the chamber that this case was all about “creating drama.” Those heckles presumably were aimed at the NDP Opposition, which raised the issue, but Warholm’s family thought they were aimed at them.
But Duncan is also the minister who told us a year ago — after ordering health district CEOs to tour every nursing care facility in the province — that what was subsequently reported was unacceptable and not the kind of treatment he would expect for his own loved ones.
Yet his government’s response was a mere $10 million for emergency funding (the districts requested $18 million) last fall and there was no additional money in the spring budget.
Admittedly, dollars might not have helped Margaret Warholm if the ombudsman determines this is strictly a quality of care issue.
That said, the family, the care home and even the government acknowledge that there is a staffing shortage in the Santa Maria. The problem, however, is that Duncan’s government has removed legislated minimum standards for nursing homes across the province, making it that much tougher for health regions to argue for funds for desperately needed staffing relief.
Moreover, Duncan broadly hinted Thursday there will be no major funding in Finance Minister Ken Krawetz’s next budget to fix the problem.
While Duncan may have taken ownership of the nursing home issue last year, he truly seems powerless to address it. This is a big problem for him.
The minister can’t be held responsible for everything that goes wrong in the province. But he has responsibility for the problems for which he takes ownership.