Senior facility fights for choice

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

With rising numbers of rural Albertan seniors waiting for placement in a senior care facility, Meadowlark Senior Care Home’s biggest concern should be running out of beds to house these individuals. However, the private nine-bed facility which specializes in dealing with dementia and which is not contracted through Alberta Health Services (AHS), fails to appear on the government-approved government-contracted list of choices – raising frustrations among families who said they felt pressured into an ultimatum and leaving the care home struggling.
Meadowlark Senior Care Home operates under the Supportive Living Accommodation Licensing Act and Standard, and receives regular visits from AHS home care – publicly funded personal and health care services for clients of all ages. Nonetheless, Debbie Wakelam who established the care home 15 years ago and later moved it to Strathmore, has seen an increase of frustrated families knocking on her door with complaints of having received misinformation from the government.
“The bottom line is, it’s supposed to be about the seniors,” said Wakelam. “I’m not presented as an option. Other operators in other cities and areas, they’re opening more. I can’t even keep this one full. It’s not for lack of advertising. It’s not my reputation. It’s strictly every client is a homecare client and they must pass through that office.”
According to Wakelam AHS told her that despite providing good care, Meadowlark was not staffed to provide a higher level care – including licensed practical nursing care on site or the employment of a registered nurse, which Wakelam said never posed a problem previously. She added the residents at Meadowlark are usually AHS Home Care patients and therefore receive nursing support along with 24 hours on-call nursing services. Since most of the seniors at the facility deal with dementia, the care home is baffled as to why AHS is suddenly adamant about such mandatory services when the residents for the most part remain physically independent. The facility also has their staff on site 24 hours a day.
“Meadowlark is licensed by the Government of Alberta as a privately-operated personal care home and is not a designated publicly-funded continuing care facility,” said Bruce Conway, southern regional senior media advisor for Alberta Health Services.
“Meadowlark provides personal care support to clients. While a physician does make regular on-site visits, Meadowlark does not have licensed practical nursing care on site, nor does it employ any registered nurses. This limits Meadowlarks ability to accept all levels of care. Alberta Health Services is in discussion with the operator of meadowlark to address any concerns they may have.”
The care home recently took on their sixth resident, a former Gleichen community member, whose family asked to remain anonymous, after she became incapable of living on her own. Unable to do her own laundry, remember how to work the microwave, and helpless in finding a solution or contacting someone when her furnace broke down during the winter, her niece was given two options when her aunt was put on an emergency list. She was told her aunt could end up in Strathmore’s Sagewood Seniors Community, or Eaton Senior Communities in Calgary. While the distance to Calgary was too far, she was given a third option of trying to get her aunt into Walden Heights Seniors Community until a bed became available at Sagewood in Strathmore – unaware that Walden was also a facility located in Calgary. When she asked about other options, she was told there were no other options, and failure to accept to move her aunt into Walden Heights would result in her aunt being taken off the emergency list.
“My gut was saying to me, this is wrong, this may be a new building but this atmosphere will kill her, and they’re asking me to put my aunt physically and psychologically at risk by putting her in there; my only choice,” said the niece, who lives in Strathmore, and later found an ad for Meadowlark on social media.
“It frustrates me. It’s not fair to my aunt, it’s not fair to families, because other families are dealing with similar situations, and why are we not being presented with this information. It’s wrong in my opinion. Nobody even mentioned [it].
Unfortunately other Strathmore and Wheatland County families have encountered similar experiences, feeling pressured into choosing a public government-contracted facility.
Residents moving into a supportive living lifestyle will pay close to $2,000 monthly for either a public or private facility. The government allocates up to $5,000 per individuals directly to the contracted facility to cover for care. A private facility such as Meadowlark is required to charge an additional $2,000 for those services.. However, residents can apply through the government for the Home Care Self Manage program to cover those cost. But Wakelam has heard through members in the community that such an opportunity was either not mentioned, or residents were told chances of receiving it were slim.
“It’s our right, freedom of choice,” Wakelam said. “These are seniors. They’re in panic and they’re in crisis and they’re told this is how it is; do it. It’s such an emotional time for them and stressful, and for an individual senior who has dementia, they’re not capable of sticking up for themselves. That’s the sad part. They’re almost picking on the most defenseless population that we have. The families go to health services for information because that should be the person that provides clear easy to understand direction and the best choices.”
While Wakelam asked to go on contract with AHS several times in the past, she was told the need in Strathmore and surrounding areas was already met through their contract with Sagewood Seniors Community. Glenda Boc, director of care at Sagewood, which employs a 24-hour licensed practical nurse as well as registered nurses throughout the day and after hours, agreed there is a need within Strathmore to provide more beds.
“Our beds are all funded through AHS so they manage the waitlist … and because we’re a smaller site than Seaton or Walden, they’ll go there first and as soon as their name comes up on the waitlist then they get transferred back,” Boc said.
“We’re always full. What we’re seeing is they’re managing them at home longer just because of the lack of beds. So by the time we get them into care, their care needs are usually quite high. Which means the families are struggling at home. Beds never sit empty here.”
Alberta Health Services said they are in contact with Wakelam regarding her concerns. Yet without a contract Meadowlark remains off the list of options and may be faced with closing its doors in the future.