Alberta health minister pledges to fix 'huge gap' in post-hospital discharge system
Government orders four investigations into Contentment Social Services
Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange admitted Monday to a "huge gap" in the system for referring discharged hospital patients to housing and support after a case in which a non-profit moved vulnerable people into hotel rooms.
LaGrange and Jason Nixon, minister of seniors, community and social services, said during a news conference that concerns about the organization Contentment Social Services are prompting them to pursue new accreditation and licensing rules.
On March 15, CBC News broke the story about Blair Canniff, a stroke patient with high care needs who was discharged from hospital in Edmonton and moved into a hotel south of the city, in Leduc, through a program run by Contentment Social Services.
Canniff had been expecting to go to an assisted-living facility. He and his family reported the hotel room wasn't properly equipped for his wheelchair, his hygiene wasn't being managed, and he was given fast food to eat.
Another woman also spoke to CBC News about concerns about the quality of care for her father, Glen Green, after he was discharged from hospital and moved between two Leduc hotels, also with Contentment Social Services.
LaGrange on Monday thanked Canniff for coming forward, and for "the fact that it's highlighted this huge gap in our system, that we have to make sure that we vet properly anyone who's provided as an option."
When hospital patients are discharged but need to live someplace with additional services, care teams in hospital present them with a list of housing options. It is not clear how agencies are added to the list.
In LaGrange's initial response to Canniff's story last week, the minister said Alberta Health Services followed "proper procedures" in discharging him to a non-profit provider.
On Monday, Nixon said government officials have been unable to reach anyone in charge of Contentment Social Services.
WATCH | Province taking over care of Contentment Social Services clients:
That's despite unpaid hotel bills that put more than two dozen people at risk of being evicted and sent to a homeless shelter, he said.
"This situation shines a light on the need to look at what rules are in place to organizations who advertise themselves to provide services beyond just housing," Nixon said.
27 people in hotel rooms
Premier Danielle Smith previously said the government was working to find new living arrangements for 39 people in hotel rooms under the care of Contentment Social Services.
Nixon said Monday that a further review over the weekend revealed that the organization actually had 27 people in rooms at the Leduc Park Inn — many of them vulnerable, some discharged from hospital.
The people living there were cleared to be on their own with community assistance like home care, Nixon said. Most receive some form of government support, with 80 per cent on Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH).
Nixon said the people had been moved twice in March: first, from apartment housing owned by a private landlord to the Leduc Travelodge, and then to the Park Inn. Nixon said the government had to pay some of the bills in order to make sure no one was forced to leave the hotel over the weekend.
He alleged that the organization had unpaid bills in all three housing arrangements, even though clients had agreements to pay Contentment to cover rent and additional support services.
Chris Semken found out last Thursday that his 29-year-old nephew was among those living at the Park Inn.
Semken said his nephew has autism, and needs some help with daily tasks, which he'd been getting through Contentment Social Services.
Semken was shocked to find out his relative had been moved from an apartment to a hotel, where he was at risk of losing his housing.
"They were talking about putting him on a bus and sending him to, I think it was the Hope Mission. He wouldn't be safe in a place like that," he said.
"He does have an income. He has AISH. So why wouldn't he have somewhere to live?"
Semken said his nephew can live independently, and doesn't have significant medical issues that need attention, so he was able to get the support he needed at the hotel.
But he said it's disturbing that his nephew and others were put in such a precarious situation.
"When I heard what was going on, I was very upset — all you heard was one minister blaming another," he said.
"Just figure it out. There were people at risk here."
Four investigations
Nixon said the government has now arranged for most people who had been clients of Contentment Social Services to return to their apartments.
Officials are working to make sure food and community supports can be provided there.
All but one person who wanted to stay at the Park Inn are moving, Nixon said, and one other person is in hospital to pursue a different option.
The government has now ordered four separate investigations, Nixon said.
The Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee has already been directed to review the situation. Nixon said his ministry is opening an investigation into the use of government income support funds, and another into allegations of elder abuse in the form of neglect.
As well, Service Alberta will start a consumer protection and residential tenancy investigation.
Results of the investigations will be made public, Nixon's press secretary Heather Barlow said in an email to CBC.
WATCH | Alberta health officials questioned about hotel transfers as another family speaks out:
"This is an organization that appears to be not delivering services," Nixon said.
"I can't recall, and the department can't recall, anything that we have seen like this."
NDP Opposition Leader Rachel Notley said Monday that she's concerned that there's no guarantee the results of the investigations will be made public.
"We still haven't seen the discharge policy. It would seem to me that as a starting point we should get to see it, but on any given day, the [health] minister seems confused about whether there even is one," Notley said.
CBC News asked Contentment Social Services president Norton Smith on Monday to respond to the province's investigations and its plans for new regulations.
He was also asked to comment on the government's move to take over the care of Contentment's clients.
He said he had no comment.
In a previous interview with CBC News, Smith defended his organization's actions.
He said the agency had been planning to purchase a hotel and convert it into a care facility, but the deal fell through.
"We are not in the habit of putting clients in motels," he said. "It was a temporary measure. It was not something that we are trying to do on a permanent basis."
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