A review of the operations and personnel at the Estevan Regional Nursing Home (ERNH) has been completed. The review came about as a result of accusations of possible abuse of one of the residents, by the resident's family.
The results of the investigation carried out by an independent reviewing officer have been filed since mid-January of this year, but Maggie Dupuis, a representative of the family of ERNH resident Mary Mack, who raised the issue in June of last year, has not received a copy of the report yet.
"They have the legal paperwork on file that I have the power of attorney for my mother, who suffers from dementia, but there was more paperwork to complete I guess before I could receive the report. So I've filled it all out and will send that in," said Dupuis, when she was asked if she had seen the report.
In the meantime an investigation by the Estevan Police department into the issues at the nursing home has not yet concluded.
The ERNH comes within the jurisdiction of the Sun Country Health Region and their CEO, Marga Cugnet said the report from the independent reviewing officer was finalized just after the new year.
She said the next step was to try to hold a meeting with staff at the nursing home and then the family who lodged the complaint and made it public last summer when they made their concerns known to The Mercury.
Cugnet said a meeting with ERNH staff was finally held April 4 and she added, while speaking with The Mercury on April 19, "I'm glad to hear the report confirmed that abuse was not identified at the nursing home."
Cugnet added that there was no doubt the staff at ERNH felt they were under a lot of pressure in the interim and were relieved that the investigation, at least from the reviewer's standpoint, was now over.
"In the meantime, some of them have fielded more than a few unkind remarks from the public," Cugnet said.
"From the health region's perspective, we regret that the family was so frustrated and angry," as the review was carried out and the report completed, but, "it was a matter of addressing the process that has to be followed."
Cugnet said it was unfortunate the review took longer than what was originally expected, but it was done thoroughly, with the reviewer checking all relevant charts, interviewing family members, staff and management.
The report is now being handled as an internal working document by the health region and it is not releasing it to the public. That could only be done by the family, once they receive a copy, which may be redacted with some sensitive areas of the report blanked out.
Dupuis, who is acting as the spokesperson for the family, said they remain flummoxed by the review process.
"We were informed January 30 the report was finished and the family was asked to attend a meeting within six days to discuss it, but we couldn't get all our family together on that notice. I was informed they had tried to get hold of me earlier and later, but I have no record of missed calls or e-mails and no voice messages. On Feb. 12 we replied, then found out that the report we receive might be the one with a lot of items removed or blanked out. I guess it's the false form of it that we'll get," she said.
Dupuis said the issue is becoming rather ridiculous in terms of process since "the privacy officer, whoever that is, gets a copy, I understand pretty well everyone in the health ministry is getting copies, along with the regional director of strategic planning. We, as a family, have already gone public by talking to you (The Mercury), so how private can this report be?"
Dupuis said the Estevan Police Service (EPS) has to notify the nursing home management when they want to interview staff, so everyone there knows when statements are being made and by whom and "wouldn't you find that kind of intimidating? So it's not anonymous as to what's going on and Sun Country will know who gave the statements. So how comfortable could anyone be either talking to the reviewing officer or the police?"
Dupuis said the family has fielded only one formal request to meet with Sun Country officials, and that was in late January. They have no record of any repeated requests to meet.
"In the meantime, I understand the staff at the ERNH were told that we had refused several requests to meet with them, so I guess we're told one thing and staff are told something else."
Dupuis said she and her siblings are cognizant of the fact there are staffing shortages and resident care employees at the ERNH are overburdened, especially at certain times of the day. The job isn't easy and they empathize with the good and dedicated caregivers there who go well beyond job descriptions to provide comfort for the clientele.
"But right from the start of the review, we had questions and they continue to be questions. If the third-party investigator was really independent, then why did she have to report to Sun Country directly? Why did she not report to us, the family that made the complaint? When the review got underway, the only way we were able to contact the reviewing officer was through Sun Country, so again, how independent was she? She apparently was hired by them and answered to them and we had to work through a middle-man at Sun Country, so the whole process was compromised right from the start as far as we're concerned. And the only time we received any response to any request we made, was when we threatened to go to the newspaper again and go public again. Then we'd hear from them."
After saying that, Dupuis said she and other family members had noticed distinct improvements in the care their mother and other residents were receiving, but there were still issues.
Cugnet, in her response to the report, stated the reviewing officer had made some suggestions and recommendations regarding ongoing care of residents which are being addressed with the intent of improving service.
"But the review that was filed pretty well wraps up the investigation from our side except for the meeting with the family and with the nursing home manager working with the family. In the meantime, one of the recommendations was for the formation of a residents' council which we will try to get organized there and more training on resident and staff abuse and training on dealing with resident changes regarding cognitive issues," said Cugnet. "The family made nine specific requests and the reviewer addressed each one and we expect to discuss that with the family."
As far as the EPS is concerned, Del Block, chief of police, said that Sergeant Jerry Michalski has returned to work on the file after having to take a medical leave of absence for a few months this winter.
"I didn't want to turn the file over to someone else because Jerry had already conducted some interviews and had his own notes and it would have been too awkward for someone else to come in midway and try to make it work. But he is back to full-time duty now, so his mandate is to focus on this. We have no timeline set yet but we'll wrap it up as efficiently as it can be done. There are still some interviews to complete though."
Asked what she thought of the review prior to actually receiving a copy of it, whether it's the complete report or an edited version, Dupuis replied that "I don't see the care improved that much, and I feel real bad about the whole situation because the good caregivers are very, very good and I expect the bad ones will still be bad at it. It hurts us too, when these good caregivers are lumped in with the bad ones. It hurts us, it hurts them."
Dupuis concluded by noting that it was interesting to hear that Sun Country had issued the statement that no abuse was uncovered prior to the family receiving a copy of the report and without the independent reviewing officer making any statement regarding the process, interviews or results, other than to Sun Country.
