Two board members are voicing concerns about their residential care home.
After two separate allegations surfaced against the care home’s director, the board members say it’s time for government intervention.
Anne Baker and Blair Langille both have nonverbal adult relatives in a group home in Amherst, N.S. They also each hold positions on the home’s board of directors. However, they say the board needs more accountability.
“It isn’t like being on the church board where you are overseeing bingo,” says Langille. “There’s a lot of moving parts, there is labour, and there is the well-being of vulnerable people.”
The director of the eight-resident facility is being investigated for two allegations of emotional abuse. The first accuses him of keeping resident Amanda Sheehan in her room for at least seven days. The second allegation accuses the director of swearing at Tracy Gilbert, Anne Baker’s son.
“His remarks in our findings is that it was a jokingly manner,” says Baker. “You don’t swear at people, especially special-needs people, in a jokingly manner.”
Alongside the allegations, there are calls to have the director suspended with pay until the investigation is complete.
The minister of community services says the decision whether or not to suspend the director is in the hands of the board members. However, both Baker and Langille say their board isn’t capable of handling this situation.
“First off, she’s right,” says Langille, in regards to the minister of community services. “In most circumstances, the board would be the one that would discipline the director. Unfortunately, what we have is the tail-wagging dog and the board is paralyzed in this situation; it doesn’t know which way to go.”
Baker and Langille want the Department of Community Services to step in.
“We desperately need some help to get going in the right direction, to get our policies and procedures up,” says Baker. “We need to know what rights we have concerning the management.”
The two feel that board members may not be able to do enough, and are asking for government intervention.
“I personally feel like I’ve failed and I want to step back from this, and get the help that we need,” says Langille.
Baker and Langille say their loved ones will require special care for many years. They say they want to ensure that the people living in residential care homes are in safe places, with the proper checks and balances.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kelland Sundahl.
