By Ian Holmes

Staff rally over conditions at Parksville seniors care home

Jun 5, 2017 | 5:22 PM

PARKSVILLE — Disgruntled employees and even a few sympathetic residents staged a rally outside the Stanford Seniors Village care home in Parksville on Monday.

John Demedeiros, chief steward of the Hospital Employees Union at the village, claimed facility operator Retirement Concepts shortchanges unionized staff on overtime hours, vacation time and also collect interest on their pension plan.

“They (staff) are tired of working short-staffed, they’re looking for other places to go,” he said. “This company is continuing to put profits ahead of patient care.”

Demedeiros said the facility faces huge challenges finding and keeping staff. He said non-competitive wages and low staff morale negatively impact their workers and the 180 complex care residents.

“You can’t have continuity in care if you don’t have continuity in staff and when residents see new faces on a daily basis and care is being missed, that breaks our hearts.”

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About 25 employees and a few residents spent the Monday lunch-hour rallying outside the massive Craig St. care complex.

Cheryl Klassen, who has lived at Stanford Place for the past six years, said having her catheter misplaced has been an ongoing problem.

“I’ve had it pulled out 19 times and that’s unacceptable at all levels,” she said.

Klassen’s daughter, Kari-Lyn Owen, said a lack of staff has made life uncomfortable on her mother.

“My mom from the neck down has no mobility, so for the day she can’t even sip a glass of water on her own without asking for help, and they can’t come,” Owen said.

Demedeiros wouldn’t say definitively if any firm job action is being considered by the roughly 80 full-time workers who serve a variety of roles from nursing, kitchen staff, to recreation and housekeeping.

He noted their current collective agreement expires in the fall of next year.

A British Columbia seniors advocate directory of facilities report released in early 2017 showed only nine per cent of care homes in the province reach 3.36 hours of daily direct care per patient. The number is a provincial guideline, though it’s not legislatively required.

According to the report, Stanford received funding from Island Health for 3.15 direct care hours per resident, per day in 2015-16. All but 11 beds at the facility are publicly funded. There were four substantiated complaints over that same period of time.

A request by NanaimoNewsNOW for comment from care facility operator Retirement Concepts has not yet been answered.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @repoterholmes