Care facility gets an apology
Carmangay centre still set to be closed
On the heels of a public scolding from Health Minister Fred Horne, a top Alberta Health Services executive concedes the medical superboard made “mistakes” handling the impending closure of a long-term care facility in Carmangay.
Chris Mazurkewich, AHS executive vice-president and chief operating officer, said he’ll visit the southern Alberta community next week to apologize to residents of the Little Bow Continuing Care Centre and their families — but said the care home is still set to be shuttered once its occupants have moved.
“We’ve made some mistakes along the way in terms of communication and engagement, and as a result there’s been undue anxiety. In hindsight we could have done a better job,” Mazurkewich said Thursday in an interview. Mazurkewich plans to visit the Little Bow Continuing Care Centre next on Wednesday to meet with families, residents and staff.
Carmangay residents say the AHS overtures are too little, too late.
“To say sorry now, it almost feels like a slap in the face,” said the community’s mayor, Kym Nichols, who is lobbying the board to keep the centre open.
“Sit down and discuss with us what other options there could be.”
The closure of the centre that specializes in roundthe-clock care for dementia patients has sparked outrage in the small community, 65 kilometres north of Lethbridge.
Residents’ families say the medical board notified them last month it planned to shut down the 20bed care centre and relocate its 18 residents.
The health authority has said the facility, which was built in 1958, doesn’t meet current building codes and upgrades are too costly. Families say they weren’t consulted about the move and they fear their loved ones’ conditions may deteriorate if they’re forced elsewhere.
Horne, who made his own visit to the centre Wednesday, said he “has a lot of concern” about how AHS has handled the closure, and said the medical authority owes residents, family and staff an apology.
“I found people clearly who had not been consulted with … I found staff that were unclear about what was happening and when.
“I found a number of residents and families who were quite concerned that they may not have the opportunity to look at options and to plan something on their own time in terms of the transition,” Horne said Thursday.
Lou Patterson, whose 81-year-old father has already moved from Carmangay to a long-term care centre 40 kilometres away in Vulcan, called on Horne to reverse the decision to shut the home.
“He’s got this higher up coming out to apologize after ripping people’s lives up, sending them upside-down ... I find it unacceptable,” said Patterson, who moved to Carmangay to be near her father when he was given a space in the Little Bow in 2009.
Family members and union workers plan to protest the Little Bow closure in a demonstration outside Premier Alison Redford’s Calgary constituency office on Tuesday.
AUPE president Guy Smith said the union’s Carmangay workers have been given conflicting information about when they’ll be laid off.
“It just seems when the government and AHS make these decisions that fundamentally affect facilities and peoples’ lives, they make them off of the top of their heads without consulting anyone, then they’re surprised by the re- percussions,” Smith said. “It’s angering a lot of people.”
According to Mazurkewich, Ahs plans to have a staff member on site by Monday to help family members deal with the transition.
Six of the Little Bow’s 18 residents have already been placed in new care centres, Mazurkewich said, and the health authority is working to find the remaining occupants new homes in communities such as Vulcan and Claresholm.
He said while the facility will ultimately close, it won’t shut its doors before everyone’s found a new home.