Leamington hospital fires shop volunteers
Top auxiliary members axed after threatening to close down gift store
A bitter dispute between a Leamington hospital and some volunteers has taken an ugly public turn after auxiliary board members were axed for threatening to close the fundraising gift shop.
Maureen Sutherland, now the former president of the Leamington District Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, fired off a media release Tuesday saying her members are in “shock and utter disbelief.” She said hospital senior management took over the auxiliary, kicked its vice-president Diane Tanguay-Madden off the property and seized control of the gift shop.
“I am angered and saddened by the unnecessary and drastic actions taken this morning,” said Sutherland. “I am utterly disappointed that the LDMH auxiliary executive has been treated in this manner. We have exhausted every avenue to maintain our relationships and to come to a mutually agreeable solution with the senior management team of LDMH, and to preserve our volunteer program.”
Sutherland said the dispute began with the auxiliary’s wish to let go a volunteer, who has health issues. There were concerns about her working in the gift shop, she said.
The volunteer is the mother of a high-ranking individual in the hospital’s nursing department, Sutherland said, and management wouldn’t allow the auxiliary to dismiss her.
“This unfortunately has been the culmination of a tenuous and strained relationship between the auxiliary and senior management team which originated with their failure to address a blatant conflict of interest due to the position of an individual within the senior management team,” she said.
Hospital spokesman Bill Baker disputed the claims of conflict of interest.
He acknowledged there are “personnel issues” but refused to elaborate on those issues or name the individuals involved, including any high-level hospital employees.
“There’s a legal issue, there’s a personnel issue and those are things that we can’t discuss in the public,” said Baker.
It came to a head Monday when the auxiliary sent the hospital a letter saying it will close the gift shop.
The Leamington hospital auxiliary has operated a gift shop since the 1950s. The shop eventually evolved into a boutique offering clothing, jewelry and other accessories for women, making it a major fundraiser for the hospital and the Hospice Erie Shores Campus.
Sutherland said the hospital reacted to the problem with the volunteer by taking away the gift shop’s ability to buy merchandise. She said the chief merchandise buyer for the gift shop was a hospital employee. As the dispute went on, she said, the hospital told that employee to stop buying for the gift shop.
“We didn’t have means of getting any new inventory,” said Sutherland. “So we felt the only way we could deal with this was to let the management team at the hospital know that we would have to close at the end of January.”
The hospital reacted swiftly after learning of the plan to shut it down by terminating Sutherland and her vice-president.
Sutherland sent out the media release Tuesday morning stating the hospital’s senior management team “forcefully and unilaterally” took over the auxiliary and escorted Tanguay-Madden off the property.
Hospital CEO Terry Shields, who runs the hospital with an annual budget of about $42 million, wouldn’t talk about the issue Tuesday. Baker said board members followed a “formal process” in deciding to dismiss Sutherland and Tanguay-Madden. But he said he didn’t know if it was a face-toface meeting, over the phone or by email. Baker added that the board is not required to have a public meeting when making decisions on personnel issues, including volunteers. He said the hospital board made the move Monday to keep the gift shop open after learning of the auxiliary members’ plan.
“On Dec. 19 we received a letter from Maureen Sutherland and Diane Tanguay-Madden of their intention to close the gift shop at Leamington District Memorial Hospital,” he said. “The board of directors took immediate action to ensure the gift shop and the auxiliary remained open and a vital part of hospital and community going forward.”
When asked about purchasing practices for the gift shop, Baker said “what you’re receiving is unfortunately not factual.” But he wouldn’t elaborate, again citing personnel issues.
Baker said no one can shut down the gift shop without permission from the hospital’s board of directors.
“The board has taken over, which they had the authority to do.”
Baker said the gift shop remained open Tuesday and was staffed by auxiliary volunteers.
The board of directors took immediate action to ensure the gift shop and the auxiliary remained open.