The shelter company tasked with housing a paralyzed man in a Leduc motel will no longer get clients from Alberta Health Services.
On Friday, Prime Minister Danielle Smith said dozens of social clients were being moved from the Park Inn through the Radisson near the airport, where they had been living for more than a week.
Contentment Social Services is an organization that provides housing and other facilities to low-income people in addition to patients discharged from the hospital.
Until recently, the company was on a list of providers that Alberta’s fitness staff provided to medical patients who needed lodging after being discharged from the hospital.
On Tuesday, relatives of 62-year-old stroke survivor Blair Canniff alerted the media that after the partially paralyzed man was admitted to a motel, social facilities were unable to adequately meet his needs.
“The front door ramp was too steep for wheelchair users to use alone,” said Jeela Manniapik, Canniff’s daughter-in-law. “And the bathrooms were too small to be able to get anyone in and out of them. “
Blair Canniff was transferred to a motel in Leduc rather than a long-term care facility after being discharged from the Royal Alexandra Hospital. (Supplied) The agency’s housing director, Nadia Yousouf, said 40 residents, adding that Canniff, who has since returned to the hospital, were placed in the motel while other housing complexes were treated for parasites.
He said the firm has been helping clients with non-medical housing for years and that he believes the province is unfair in removing them from the list.
“People have only heard one side of the story. No one came to paint with us when we were in [our old building] to see what we do and how we help our customers,” Yousouf said.
Smith said the company provides “substandard care” by feeding fast-food consumers and failing to pay for transient housing for the 39 shoppers still at the motel.
To avoid being evicted Thursday, Smith said the province stepped in to pay the $25,000 owed to the motel through Contentment Social Services.
Smith said staff from the Department of Aging and Social and Community Services were helping to relocate clients on Friday, but did not provide data on how many other people would be displaced or where they would go.
At least one visitor reported that he would stay.
Chris Semken’s nephew, Dallas, has been in the care of Contentment Social Services for more than two years and is one of 39 visitors staying at the motel.
Semken said his circle of family members had been told that Dallas would stay at the motel for several more days before being moved to a Social Services Content apartment.
“We were told yesterday that we would send him to Mission Hope, which in my nephew’s case would not be smart for him,” Senken said. “But it turns out that the government has stepped in. . . Now the apartment they were in is being cleaned. “up and they’ll go back there next week. “
CTV News Edmonton contacted the Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday to ask how many visitors had been relocated and how many had stayed at the hotel. As of Sunday afternoon, there had been no reaction.
Contentment’s social arm did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The UCP’s Ministers of Health and Social Services and the Elderly have denied any prior knowledge of Contentment Social Services.
“It implies that because they’re on a list, we’ve approved them,” Health Secretary Adriana LaGrange said Thursday. “I’ve been very transparent in all of my communications over the last few days that we haven’t accredited this agency. “
Smith reiterated Friday that the province still doesn’t know how the company ended up on the list of AHS providers given to patients.
“We don’t give them money. They’re not one of our contractors, so we still have to work out a few things to understand why they were in the first place,” Smith said.
The Alberta NDP has accused the UCP of failing in its responsibility in relation to the list and what they call “motel medicine. “
“When asked if the checks to see if the places where patients are referred are acceptable, (LaGrange) didn’t know,” NDP Deputy Leader Christina Gray said Friday. “When asked who made the list of agencies that included this specific social service provider, she didn’t know. “
On Thursday, the NDP wrote to the Alberta Health Quality Council requesting an investigation into the lack of oversight over where HHS patients are discharged and how they are cared for.
Smith said the province will review hospital discharge policies and how non-medical services are accredited.
“We’re concerned that there could be other operators like this,” Smith said.
Smith’s reports of substandard care can be reported to the Domestic Violence Hotline at 310-1818.
With Jeremy Thompson, Craig Ellingson and Diego Romero of CTV News Edmonton
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