ELDER CARE UPROAR
Infighting jars Regina home
REGINA An argument over elder care and money has escalated into a bitter rift at Regina Lutheran Home, leading to a criminal charge and a shakeup of the home’s family council.
A handful of family members led a months-long crusade against Alan Stephen, CEO of the home’s parent company, Eden Care Communities. Last week, they resigned from the Elder Family Council — a body tasked with representing the interests of residents at the home — after accusing management of “taking it over.”
“We can’t be independent anymore,” said Carrie Klassen. “They’re going to run it.”
In 2013, Klassen moved her mother from another care home in Regina she said was offering substandard care and appeared at the Legislative Building to voice her concerns. In November of that year, Klassen said she was happy with the care being provided at Regina Lutheran Home.
But last year, joined by her successor as council chair Brenda Wolf, Klassen complained about a perceived decline in the level of care at Regina Lutheran Home. She blamed it on staffing cuts and asked her husband, Kevin Klassen, to delve into the company’s finances.
In July, he sent an analysis of Eden Care to journalists, the minister of health and Stephen himself claiming the company was “losing substantial amounts of money.”
Six months later, Kevin can no longer set foot in Regina Lutheran Home, where his mother-in-law lives. He is barred from Eden properties after a threat to publish allegedly damaging material earned him an extortion charge.
Eden’s lawyers threatened Kevin with a defamation lawsuit. In an Aug. 28 letter, they demanded that he retract his analysis and issue an apology. Kevin made it clear that he had no intention of giving up.
But he soon made a move he admits was a “mistake.” In September emails, he demanded an apology from Eden Care. He set a deadline and said he would reveal information that, he claimed, would cause “problems” for Stephen and “embarrass” Eden. He also asked for $2,500. For $5,000, he said he would resign from council.
Kevin said that was just to compensate for the time he spent on his analysis. But the police viewed his emails as sufficient grounds to charge him with extortion last month. Eden Care also succeeded in stripping him of the domain names for websites where he planned to publish material.
Last week, Stephen came to a council meeting armed with new terms of reference. They will guarantee management a permanent seat at the council table, and ensure that all decisions are made by “consensus.”
Wolf and the Klassens claim that will neutralize the council. Stephen said it will improve collaboration.
“There’s been some frost that’s been created, and we need to move forward so it’s more open and transparent,” Stephen said. He admits there is a “wall” between management and some families. But he blames it on a “vocal minority” misleading council, noting the Klassens’ history with care homes.
Stephen claims that Kevin’s insinuations about a company in turmoil are “smear tactics” and “an utter lie.”
“The notion that we are not solvent, the notion we are in financial difficulty is 100-per-cent inaccurate,” the Eden Care CEO said. “There’s no mismanagement. There’s no fraud. And what we’re doing, it’s legal, it’s moral, it’s ethical — and it meets the long-term plan of this organization.”
Kevin’s analysis is largely based on publicly available documents. They show that Eden Care has taken losses after expanding its operations in recent years. A string of new ventures lost $530,000 in 2017.
Stephen calls that a “conscious decision” of Eden’s board.
“Is their allegation correct that our feeder companies are losing money right at the moment? Yes they are,” Stephen said. “Is the board aware of that? Yes they are. Do we have a plan to get out of that? Yes we do.”
Meanwhile, at Eden’s older homes, fees and transfers have shot up sharply. At Regina Lutheran Home, management fees doubled between 2014 and 2016. Eden Care has moved $5.8 million from Broadway Terrace to other ventures in the past three years.
Kevin thinks it would be better spent on improving care at the existing facilities.
“They could have modernized Regina Lutheran Home. They could have added more services to all three areas,” Kevin said. “But what they did is they created all these businesses that just don’t make any sense at all.”
Stephen counters that the expansion is part of the company’s strategic vision — to bring needed services to the North Central community. With charities, he pointed out, success isn’t measured in profit.
He acknowledged that Eden moves money around “to ensure our various companies can expand.” Management fees have gone up, he admits, but he claims it’s just a matter of better accounting.
“That money was always there. It was embedded in other line items,” he said. “When I came in, and my new executive director of finance came in, we redid the books so it reflected what we were doing.”
A new IT contract may be costly, but Stephen claims it was a “critical” measure to safeguard personal information. New office space opened up care space at Regina Lutheran Home, he adds, though some of those rooms are now filled with discarded office furniture.
Inside the building, Kevin pointed to a bright, expansive area. He said it’s almost always empty. It houses a day and wellness program, which has generated about $15,000 of revenue in almost two years.
The residents seem content. They have few complaints — “no panic button in my room,” for instance — but no major grievances to air.
Brenda and the Klassens argue that a cut float care aide, together with changes to recreation and the loss of a kitchen worker, have had a real impact on their family members. They claim that toenails don’t get trimmed, baths are infrequent and it takes too long to get their loved ones out of bed and active.
“If they have the funds to do all these things — the wellness, all these new endeavours — if they can afford to do that, they should not be cutting the front lines,” said Carrie.
Regina Lutheran Home still exceeds ministry guidelines for the ratio of care aides to residents and won a Saskatchewan Health Care Excellence award in 2015 for its patient-centred approach. Stephen points out that the home has been certified by third-party reviewers. He denies that the changes have compromised the quality of care at the home, or at any other Eden facility.
He argues Eden is now spending more on recreation. The float aide was only covering overtime, Stephen said, adding that the kitchen worker’s only task was delivering “cookies, snacks and coffee,” something other workers have taken on.
Despite their continued concern, the Klassens and Wolf say they’re done with the fight.
“I believe that our battle has been fought and lost,” Carrie said, “and we’re tired of it.”
The notion that we are not solvent, the notion we are in financial difficulty is 100-per-cent inaccurate.