Private contracts for public services = seniors booted onto the street

Calgary seniors home evicting 29 residents By Matt McClure, Calgary Herald July 4, 2011
Len Lomore, a 92-year-old war veteran, moved into the assisted living wing at Carewest Colonel Belcher just three months ago. He will need to relocate by the end of September as the owner of the facility has decided to rent the beds out privately in order to improve profitability.Photograph by: Colleen De Neve, Calgary HeraldDozens of elderly and ailing residents at a Calgary facility face eviction after the province’s health authority and the private owner failed to agree on a lease renewal.

As Alberta Health Services faces a provincewide backlog of more than 1,500 people waiting for a continuing care space, officials admitted Monday they’re now scrambling to find new homes by the end of September for 29 seniors in the assisted living wing at Carewest Colonel Belcher.

“This is unfortunate,” said Pam Brown, the authority’s executive director for integrated seniors health in Calgary.

“We do feel a lot of concern and empathy for how these residents and their families feel. This is not what anyone would like to have happen.”

Three months ago, Len Lomore sold his condominium and moved into the facility after a worsening knee condition made it difficult for him to cook and care for himself. Now, the 92-year-old war veteran is being uprooted again.

“I can’t tell you how disappointed I’m feeling,” he said.

“I worry all night and day now about where I’ll end up going and whether the care will be as good.”

While AHS’s three-year lease with Chartwell Seniors Housing REIT expired in January, the publicly traded company didn’t give the authority’s subsidiary Carewest official notice to vacate the premises until about two weeks ago.

“We were negotiating in good faith,” Brown said.

“There had been no indication they would not be renewing as they had done previously.”

Opened in 2003 amid much fanfare as a model of public-private partnership, the 30 assisted-living beds are part of a larger facility that includes 145 seniors suites rented privately by Chartwell and 175 nursing-home beds operated by Carewest.

Richard Noonan, Chartwell’s chief operating officer, said the company now plans to upgrade the assisted living beds and rent them privately to capitalize on the growing market in Calgary for retirement living.

“The profitability of that community will probably improve after we make a significant investment and reposition the suites,” Noonan said.

“We’ll be able to charge whatever the market can bear,”

With more than 24,000 suites and rooms at more than 200 locations around North America, Chartwell bills itself as one of the continent’s largest companies in the seniors’ housing sector.

While Noonan refused to reveal details of the lease discussions with AHS, he indicated the company wasn’t comfortable with continuing with the arrangement whereby Carewest workers provided nursing and care services to residents.

“We prefer wherever possible that our employees provide care services, meals, programming rather than a third-party provider,” Noonan said.

An AHS spokesman said the 17 employees affected would be given other work opportunities with Carewest.

The authority plans to add another 1,100 continuing-care spaces across Alberta by next March, including 400 beds in and around Calgary.

While none of that new capacity is set to open until this fall, Brown said she is confident that suitable accommodations for the displaced seniors can be found at existing facilities.

In his tiny studio room, Lomore watched a baseball game on television Monday, trying to distract himself from worries about where he’ll end up. Much of his pension is eaten up paying for his wife’s care at a nearby nursing home, so coughing up more to stay put at Colonel Belcher isn’t an option.

“The staff here is very friendly and very kind,” he said. “I’m shocked, but the other guys who’ve lived here for eight years now are really upset.”

His son, Dennis Lomore, said he doesn’t understand why AHS and Carewest had no idea the lease wouldn’t be renewed when they moved his father into the facility.

“I can’t believe they didn’t know this was going to happen.” he said.

“It’s typical of either their absence of planning or their integrity.”

MMCCLURE@CALGARYHERALD.COM