Province steps in at Vaughan care home
Sienna Senior Living loses control of another long-term-care facility
Sienna Senior Living, one of the long-term care companies named in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, has lost control of another facility after the Ontario government stepped in Thursday to appoint William Osler Health System as interim manager of Woodbridge Vista Care Community in Vaughan.
The reason cited by the government for the takeover was that the Woodbridge home has been unable to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The long-term-care home has 65 confirmed patient cases, 20 confirmed employee cases and 17 deaths, as of May 31according to provincial statistics.
The government’s announcement comes on the heels of a scandal involving a senior executive of Sienna, who was recorded Wednesday night making insensitive comments about the family members of Woodbridge Vista Care residents after she thought she ended a Zoom call with them. Joanne Dykeman, who was executive vice-president of operations for Sienna, made disparaging comments about one family member who expressed concern about the use of personal protective equipment and about concerns the virus could spread from floor to floor because employees were working on both COVID and nonCOVID floors, said Nick Puopolo, who recorded her words.
Puopolo’s 85-year-old mother, Savirea Puopolo, is a resident of the home. Puopolo said his mother, who has tested positive for the virus, is lethargic and isn’t eating or drinking.
Dykeman also made comments about another person who asked everyone participating in the virtual town hall to complain to the Ontario Ministry of Health.
She was then recorded saying, “Here comes another bloodsucking lawsuit,” to someone in the room with her.
The company confirmed Dykeman was let go from the company as of Thursday afternoon.
“While she is deeply regretful of the comments she made yesterday evening, she also understands that they do not meet either her expectations, nor those of our organization,” according to an emailed statement from Lois Cormack, president and CEO of Sienna Senior Living and Dino Chiesa, chair of the company’s board of directors. “Our residents and their loved ones are deserving of our respect at all times and as a company we will ensure this respect guides our every action.”
Puopolo said about 80 people were on the virtual town hall, which lasted from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday.
He said it was a frustrating experience because only seven people were allowed to ask questions and Dykeman gave long-winded non-substantive answers that took up precious minutes. When the Zoom call ended, and everyone was signing off, Puopolo said he still had his headset on when he saw Dykeman close her laptop.
By that time, he said he and his wife, Nancy Dow, were so unhappy they were ready to go down to the home and forcibly take it over and risk jail.
Puopolo was one of at least two people listening in when Dykeman made the comments.
“I’m listening and I can hear her talking in the background and on my screen it says her name, that she’s still on the line,” says Puopolo. “We start recording. And she’s swearing, ‘blood sucking lawsuit,’ and a man jumps in — ‘What do you expect? They’re people from Woodbridge,’ ” said Puopolo. “It was disgusting.”
Emails about the comments started to circulate in the group soon after the call ended, including one from Puopolo that included Dykeman, letting her know that he had recorded her comments and that he was contacting the government to ask them to take over the management of the home. “And that’s what got the ball rolling,” said Puopolo. If Dykeman had logged off, he says “we’d still be fighting them right now.”
A representative of Premier Doug Ford’s office called Puopolo to tell him William Osler was taking over the facility.
In a release Thursday, Sienna Senior Living outlined a plan to improve care and management at its homes that includes more training for staff, hiring a health and long-term-care expert to advise its board and a companywide review by former provincial deputy attorney general Paul Boniferro.
“Under our action plan, our staff will be undergoing sensitivity training that emphasizes our zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate behaviour,” said Cormack and Chiesa in the statement emailed by Sienna to the Star late Thursday.
“It is clear that Joanne Dykeman’s comments yesterday evening fell far short of our expectations for our team members, and the consequences under our zero-tolerance policy are well understood,” said Cormack and Chiesa.
“We have already been in contact with the families of Woodbridge Vista and are deeply apologetic for any pain these comments caused.”
Puopolo said the review is meaningless unless it’s done by an independent outsider. He’s asked the provincial ombudsman’s office to investigate. “I’m going to do whatever I can to get the family’s voices heard,” he said. “We’ve got this thing between our teeth now. And just because she’s fired … I’m not sure if they think because she’s gone now it’s all OK. It’s not. It’s just the beginning. I want to see someone behind bars.”