A St. Albert family is speaking out about the care their 80-year-old mother received, both at Youville Home in St. Albert and at a private Edmonton facility that they say evicted the senior after the family refused to pay higher fees.
Beth Podgurny came forward Wednesday after she says Tranquillity Care Homes Inc. evicted her 80-year-old mother Grace Denyer via ambulance when her family refused to pay a steep rent increase.
Denyer was moved to the facility after Podgurny said the family became fed up with inadequate care from the Youville. Denyer first went to the Youville in February 2010, but Podgurny said inadequate care forced the family to move her to the private facility in December.
Youville concerns
Podgurny said her mother suffered from rashes, chronic urinary tract infections and bleeding from being left for hours in soiled diapers.
She said her mother suffered a stroke, which staff appeared to ignore and that only after the family insisted was her mother was taken to hospital where the stroke and a fractured elbow were treated.
Her family believes the conditions at the home accelerated Denyer's dementia.
"We believe the lack of basic care contributed to her health issues," Podgurny said.
Charmaine Ford, director of care at Youville Home, said staff worked closely with the family and provided good care.
"We really did work hard with this family throughout the time their mom lived in Youville," she said. "We tried very, very hard to come up with a satisfactory resolution and it is unfortunate we didn't arrive at that."
Complaint filed
The family filed a complaint with Protection for Persons in Care, an agency within Alberta Seniors that looks into abuse allegations.
Due to privacy regulations, Ford could not get into details about Denyer's health and her care, but said Youville supports the agency's conclusion.
"We fully co-operated with that investigation and we were fully satisfied with its findings that certain abuse allegations were unfounded."
According to both the family and a spokesperson with Alberta Seniors, the complaint was a split decision. The agency found that one issue the family raised was founded while the other was not. None of the parties would provide a copy of the decision and the family is appealing the decision that one of the issues was unfounded.
Ford said Youville Home can deal with patients with complex needs like Denyer's and tries to keep such patients in the centre unless their health-care needs become incredibly onerous.
"We make every effort to try to keep them in their home, which we consider Youville, however there are times where we need external resources," she said.
The home is well staffed, exceeding provincial standards, she added.
"The staffing levels in all facilities are designated by the Nursing Home Act and the act requires that you have a certain percentage of staff per resident per day," she said. "At any given time we exceed the expectation of the Nursing Home Act."
Private concern
At the private facility in Edmonton, Denyer's health improved, but money became a central issue. Podgurny said despite having a contract in place for the monthly fee, the owner demanded an increase from $3,495 per month to $4,995.
When the family refused to pay the increase, Podgurny said her mother was evicted.
"She called an ambulance, I guess, and had her evicted by ambulance to the hospital and we weren't notified until after the fact," she said.
Podgurny said doctors at the Grey Nuns hospital, where her mother was taken, could see no medical reason for the impromptu transfer and she believes it was about nothing more than money.
"We never got any indication that her medical care needed to be increased at all," she said.
In an email sent Thursday, facility owner Karen Cazemier said Denyer needed a much higher level of care than the family suggested. She said Denyer was hitting staff and screaming.
"Her behaviours were causing a huge disturbance in the home for other residents and waking them up at night and during the day," Cazemier wrote.
She said the demand for increased funds was to bring on a full-time staff member to deal specifically with Denyer.
"We wanted to hire a special caregiver for just her (full time) to care for her one on one throughout the day to minimize the impact on the other residents. This was why we asked for the increase in funds."
She said Denyer was taken to hospital because she was bleeding and was spitting out her medication.
The family responded to those comments Friday, saying their mother could barely lift her arms, let out alone hit staff. They said they were never made aware of any of these concerns.
Larger concern
Public Interest Alberta brought Denyer's case before the media. Noel Somerville, chair of the group's seniors' task force, said the eviction is a sign the government should curtail plans for more private seniors care.
"For-profit facilities are less likely to provide quality care than not-for-profit or public facilities. Care and profit just don't seem to mix," he said.
Choking back tears, Podgurny said the system failed her mother and she couldn't stop it.
"I said I would never let that happen to my mother, never before she was in long-term care when I heard these stories and then it happened right before my eyes and I couldn't do anything to stop it," she said.
She demanded the government do more to help seniors like her mother and called for other people to come forward with their own stories.
"Today, my family wants answers from the Conservative government. Why is it possible for our mother and our family to be treated in this appalling condition?"
She said government action was the only way to address the bigger issue.
"I think the Alberta government has to step up to the plate. They have to realize that our senior citizens are vulnerable and they have to be taken care of," she said.
Cazemier also weighed on the state of seniors' care in the province and said the solution is not more government involvement, but less.
"My suggestion for the government would be that they allow a stipend or a monthly allotment for long-term care patients and allow families to choose where they want to put their parents instead of the government choosing certain facilities to fund," she said.
In the legislature Wednesday, Health Minister Fred Horne said the province has very strict health standards for continuing care that apply equally to residents in privately-funded, publicly-funded, and not-for-profit facilities.
Horne said the private facility in question is not publicly funded in any way.
"They are not under contract with Alberta Health Services to provide health care," he said. "They are in no way funded by this government to deliver any form of care. To the extent that they may have misrepresented the services that they provide to Albertans, we think that's very unfortunate for the family."
