Article outrages
Riverview staff
Friday, May 5, 2006
-- Craig Anderson
A Peterborough Examiner article featuring
critical comments about resident care at Riverview
Manor by a former employee are not only untrue,
say home staff, they are also personally insulting.
The article, “Seniors feel staff shortages:
ex-worker (No
choice but to cut corners) ,”
was written by Examiner staff writer Elizabeth
Bower and featured as lead story on the cover
of the Peterborough paper’s May 4th
edition. It includes extensive commentary
by Jo-Ann Hill, a former health care aide
who worked at the home from 1989 until 2004.
In the article Hill paints a picture of resident
care as harried and inconsistent, with overworked
staff routinely cutting corners. Referring
to a similar recent disclosure in the Examiner
by Cathy Webdale, a St. Joseph’s at
Fleming PSW, Hill says “Somebody’s
got to speak up for the residents.”
According to Jane Livingston, a HCA who has
been with the home for 15 years, Hill’s
comments were “like a slap in the face.”
“This upsets us all personally,”
says Livingston, formerly an RPN at Civic
Hospital.
Maggie Miller, sister of current resident
Paul Miller, considers Hill’s commentary
“rubbish.”
Paul, who has an intellectual disability,
is an example of the changing demographics
in long term care residences (http://www.omni-way.com/News/2005/September/September27.htm),
where younger residents with complex care
needs are becoming increasingly more common.
Miller, also a part-time hairdresser for
Riverview’s residents, spends 4-5 days
a week at the home. At bi-weekly meetings
with nursing staff Miller discusses any problems
that arise with her brother, and calls the
staff “100 percent supportive.”
“I was devastated [when I read the
article],” says Miller, “the staff
are here for the residents – it’s
family. Everything has been A-1.”
Miller takes particular issue with Hill’s
assertion that residents aren’t properly
bathed and groomed.
“My brother gets a shower everyday,
and when I take him out to Petes games the
staff always make sure to check that he looks
good.”
Phil Walker, a dedicated five-year volunteer
who is at the home daily to assist residents
at mealtimes, echoes Miller’s sentiments,
saying that Hill’s comments are “not
the experience I have had at Riverview. We’re
all family.”
The article, which doesn’t feature
interviews with current frontline staff, family
members, or residents, could be harmful to
the home’s good reputation, says Tammy
Hazlett, a PSW at Riverview for two years.
Apart from Hill, sources quoted in the article
include Pat Powers, OMNI chief operations
officer, and Karen Sullivan, executive director
of the OLTCA.
“They didn’t ask anyone else’s
opinion,” says Hazlett.
Kelly Burns, Riverview administrator, deferred
any comments to OMNI home office. In the wake
of the article, she has penned a letter challenging
Hill’s assertions. She has also extended
an invitation to the Examiner and area residents
to tour the home.
Although Hazlett fears that people unfamiliar
with long term care in general and Riverview
in particular are likely to be influenced
by the piece, she, along with Norma Minor,
the home’s new director of care, aren’t
worried about future negative effects.
Also
See:
Letter - I have seen Riverview's quality
of care first hand
Letter
- This is not the care we provide in our home
