CEO aims to work with care aides’ union

REGINA — The CEO of a Moose Jaw nursing home where a resident died from eating laundry detergent pods says he wants to “work together” with the union representing care aides.

On Wednesday, the Service Employees International Union West said two months before the man’s death, it sent a letter to each Providence Place board member and senior management at the Five Hills Health Region.

It said that letter outlined a raft of concerns and that it never received a response.

Paul Nyhof says management held a meeting with the union on March 30 to discuss the issues it raised.

“I’m disappointed for sure,” he said Thursday.

“We’re willing to meet, and want to collaboratively problem-solve with (the union). What we need to do is work together to identify and address issues, and we are open to that.”

One of the union’s concerns was that shifts are not being filled at Providence Place.

Nyhof refuted that, saying between Jan. 1 and March 31, only 46 out of some 8,400 shifts were not filled.

While he’s “not happy with that” and acknowledges there is room for improvement,

Nyhof said the facility “works actively to fill shifts,” using casual, part-time as well as occasionally overtime “to make that happen.”

Though Nyhof wouldn’t say whether the elderly man died before or after the March 30 meeting, he said “the issue of the death ... was not part of the discussion. It wasn’t on the radar in that meeting.”

Since the incident, he said Providence Place has enacted several changes to avoid similar occurrences.

“What we always have done and always will do is work very hard to provide a safe environment that provides compassion and dignity. Things happen, mistakes occur. Could we do better? Could we do more? Absolutely. But I think we try every day, and sometimes things don’t work out as well as we want. We work carefully and systematically to learn to grow and improve.”