Seniors’ care ‘outsourced,’ union warns

Province to close long-term care unit at Strathmore

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees is accusing the province of playing a “shell game” with seniors care as it plans to shut down Strathmore hospital’s long-term care unit and move nearly two dozen seniors into a nearby privately operated facility.

The union, which says almost 19 nursing and support staff positions will be affected by the move, says the province is “outsourcing” responsibility for seniors’ health to for-profit operators motivated by their bottom line, not patient care.

According to Alberta Health Services, 23 residents now living in the Strathmore hospital’s long-term care unit are set to be relocated to the Sagewood Seniors Community once additional beds open at the new facility this fall.

Sagewood is operated by AgeCare, which has developed the “aging in place” seniors housing model now embraced by the province. The company provides different levels of care for seniors and currently operates 60 supportive living spaces and 42 independent living suites at Sagewood.

An additional 70 supportive living spaces and 35 long-term care spaces are set to open this fall.

Dave Shorten, AHS executive director of rural health and facilities for the Calgary zone, said the relocation of the 23 long-term care residents into Sagewood will make room for the overburdened Strathmore hospital to expand.

However, while the hospital expansion has been on the books in a master plan dating back to 2006, there’s currently no funding for the project.

Residents now in the hospital spaces, meanwhile, will have costs

At the end of the day, the seniors suffer. GLEN SCOTT

for their care grandfathered into the AHS-funded Sagewood beds, Shorten said.

Each resident will also be reassessed to determine care needs — whether they need the more costly long-term beds or a supportive living space offered at Sagewood.

Shorten said many rural facilities have previously placed seniors into long-term beds regardless of their care needs. The reassessment will ensure they’re placed in the appropriate bed, he said.

AUPE vice-president Glen Scott said with the majority of the longterm care spaces at Sagewood now being slotted for the hospital residents, that leaves just a handful of badly needed new beds for Strathmore seniors down the road.

Scott questioned whether AHS will be able to sustain the contract with AgeCare if the company is offered a better deal from seniors whose families can afford to pay top dollar for care.

“If there’s enough people in Strathmore willing to pay out of their pocket for long-term care, once the contract expires, (AgeCare) has every right to say I’m not going to have these contracts with Alberta Health Services.”

That’s a consequence of the government turning to private operators to provide care for the province’s elderly, he said.

“Somehow the government over time has made long-term care not health care. They’ve made it an industry,” Scott said.

“The only way they (private seniors’ care operators) can grow is by either charging the seniors more money to make more money, or paying people less. At the end of the day, the seniors suffer.”

But Shorten said he’s confident the AgeCare contract is sound, saying the company has a “very good reputation.”

The dozens of new continuing care spaces, the majority of which are supportive living, are “quite a boost to that community,” he added.

The health authority is planning a similar move in Didsbury next year, where 40 long-term care patients will be moved into a new facility operated by Bethany Care Society once it opens in spring 2014, according to Shorten.