Scrutiny intensifies over care of vulnerable seniors by B.C.'s largest chain of for-profit homes
Credit to Author: Joanne Lee-Young| Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2020 01:46:05 +0000
Health authorities are widening their scrutiny of the care given to seniors at B.C.’s largest chain of for-profit care homes.
This week, provincial health authorities cited neglect of residents and took control over a fourth retirement home run by a Retirement Concepts’ company, West Coast Seniors Housing Management’s home in Summerland. Other homes in Comox, Nanaimo and Victoria had already been taken over by health officials for similar problems.
Waverly Seniors Village, another home run by Retirement Concepts and West Coast Seniors, in Chilliwack, has recently been designated by Fraser Health as a “high risk facility.”
Waverly has temporarily suspended admission of long-term care residents — Fraser Health made the decision to put a hold on new admissions to Fraser Health-funded beds, while Retirement Concepts leadership made the decision to put a hold on new admissions for private-pay beds, Fraser Health spokesperson Dixon Tam said by email. “This is to ensure there are sufficient staffing levels to meet the care needs of the residents.”
It comes as lawyers are preparing a class-action lawsuit against Retirement Concepts, which used to own and now runs the company’s 20 care homes in B.C., and Cedar Tree Investments, which now owns the homes and is a subsidiary of the former Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group. In 2017, Anbang paid $1 billion to buy Retirement Concepts.
The law suit, which is pending certification, also names the B.C. Ministry of Health, which filed a response saying it does not own or control Retirement Concepts and Cedar Tree.
A letter was emailed last week to people who have contributed affidavits for a notice of application for a class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit is based on a civil claim filed in May 2018, which has not been proven in court, by the children of Blondine Huebner, a deceased former resident of Waverly. They allege mistreatment, neglect and abuse of their mother.
In the email, law firm Acheson Sweeney Foley Sahota said it has more than “two dozen affiants, potentially with more to follow. The people who provided these affidavits include former employees of Retirement Concepts, current employees who were brave enough to come forward as whistler-blowers, community advocates for seniors, and family members of residents, both living and deceased.”
“Binding all the affidavits together is a common, tragic thread of neglect and abuse in Retirement Concepts facilities, which cannot be allowed to continue,” wrote lawyer Patrick Dudding.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said he will be seeking accountability by meeting Cedar Tree, which owns the care facilities, and Retirement Concepts’ West Coast Seniors Housing Management, which operates them.
Postmedia looked at civil lawsuits dating back to 1998 against Retirement Concepts and its related companies, as well as Cedar Tree, and found no increase after the sale of the facilities to Chinese company ownership by Anbang’s Cedar Tree.
A lawyer representing Cedar Tree declined to comment.