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Caressant Care McLaughlin Road In Lindsay Ordered To Hire Third-Party Management Company Due To Concerns For Resident Safety

KAWARTHA LAKES-Kawartha 411 News has learned the Ministry of Long Term Care has ordered Caressant Care on McLaughlin Road in Lindsay to immediately hire a third-party management company citing safety issues.

“The licensee’s non-compliance with various requirements directly impacts resident care and safety. As such the non-compliance poses a risk of harm to residents of the home.” said the Order issued on July 20th, 2022.

Caressant Care McLaughlin is a 96 bed, privately owned, long-term care facility in Lindsay.  

Stuart Oakley, Communications Manager at Caressant Care says they were working with the Ministry to clear any issues of non-compliance.

“What this means is that Caressant Care will enter a management contract for McLaughlin Road with a person or persons to oversee the day-to-day operations in the home on a temporary basis.  The individual or individuals will work with Caressant Care staff to help manage the home and clear any outstanding orders as well as help ensure the home is operating at ministry standards,” Oakley told Kawartha 411 News.  “As always, our priority is to provide a high level of care to our residents.”

According to the Ministry, from July 2019 to July 2022 the home had a total of 13 inspections resulting in 67 written notifications, 33 voluntary Plans of Correction, 10 Compliance Orders and one Voluntary Management Contract order from February 2021.

The Order states the Ministry has reasonable grounds to believe the licensee cannot manage the home or cannot do so without assistance due to ongoing or recurrent non-compliance with certain requirements over a period of time, which the Ministry says it hasn’t remedied or corrected on its own.

“The non-compliance, particularly recurring matters pose a risk of harm to residents at the home. The frequent turnover in leadership positions in the home does not enable the licensee to effectively understand and address the compliance issues at the LTC home and to manage the operations of the home on its own.” says the Order.

In February 2022 the Executive Director (ED), Director of Care (DOC) and Assistant Director of Care (ADOC) were terminated. The Environmental Services Manager position was left vacant since November 2021, filled in February 2022 and subsequently resigned in June, 2022. The New ED hired in March 2022 has resigned but is providing support until a replacement can be found according to the Ministry. On June 16, 2022  the Assistance DOC resigned after working for 5 weeks. According to the ministry Order, the DOC, ADOC and Environmental Services Manager all indicated they have had minimal training and support from the corporate office.  

Another issue noted by the Order was a failure to ensure that every designated cooling area in the home was served by air conditioning which is “operated when necessary to maintain a comfortable cooling temperature”. An inspection in June 2022 found there was no AC operating and the temperature in the lounge and on Unit Three was 27 degrees celsius, the same as the outside temperature. “The residents were at risk for heat-related illness,” said the Order.

Oakley says that issued has since been addressed.

“Please note that McLaughlin Road is now fully compliant with having air conditioning in all resident rooms. One of the citations in the order has to do with cooling so this has been addressed.” Oakley explains.

According to the Ministry, the home also failed to bath some residents at minimum twice a week by method of their choice, they failed to provide mandatory training of staff within one week of hire including on the Residents Bill of Rights, the home’s policy to promote zero tolerance of abuse and neglect, the duty to make mandatory reports, fire prevention and safety emergency and evacuation procedures and infection prevention and control.

Some rooms requiring isolation had no PPE available outside the room, in some cases, there was no documentation of medication errors or adverse medication events and in some cases failing to report improper care of residents to the Director according to the Ministry.

“The decision to issue this order is also based on the severity and scope of the non-compliance identified.” said the Order.

Caressant Care must now hire a Ministry-approved third-party management company at their own expense. It’s unclear how long the contract will be in place.

 

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Pamela Vanmeer
Pamela Vanmeerhttps://www.kawartha411.ca/
Pamela VanMeer is a two time winner of the prestigious Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Award. Her investigative reports on abuse in Long Term Care Homes garnered international attention for the issue and won the Ron Laidlaw Award. She is a former reporter and anchor at CHEX News, now Global Peterborough and helped launch the New CHEX Daily, a daily half hour talk show. While at CHCH News in Hamilton she covered some of the biggest news stories of the day.

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