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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-06-15, Page 7THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1988. PAGE 7. Huronview's efficiency questioned by councillors The efficiency of the Huronview home in providing care for the elderly compared to privately operated residences was called into question by several councillors at the Huron County Council meeting June 2. Zurich Reeve Robert Fisher started the debate when he questioned Wayne Lester, Admin­ istrator of Huronview as Mr. Lester gave the annual report for the facility. Why, Reeve Fisher want­ ed to know, was there a $300 a month difference between the cost of someone staying in Huronview compared to the Blue Water Rest Home at Zurich? Mr. Lester said that there was no question that the Blue Water home gave top quality care but it did not provide all the activities that Huronview did, such as recreation. Reeve Fisher said that there were many recreation services provided at Blue Water. Mr. Lester said that there were outings for Huronview residents that other homes didn’t have the staff to provide. But Colborne Reeve Russel Kernighan wasn’t satisfied by the answer. Listening to figures of $33.76 for residential care and $67.54 for extended care was indicative of why there were troubles at the home. He asked if there were any surveys conducted as to why the difference in cost from smaller homes and, he said, he doubted that the cost differ- e nces boiled down to a difference in small services. Mr. Lester said most councillors didn’tseemto have interpreted figures he had presented to them several times in the past. In most charitable homes, he said, you don’t have a lot of patients who required more than 2.5 hours of nursing or personal care. In his acuity rating based on an average during 1987, 129 of the 284 residents, more than 45 per cent, required more than 2.5 hours care per day. This, he said in his report, meant that the Huronview was delivering more care than it was paid for by the province under the extended care rating. He felt there should be a special funding for heavy extended care patients. “If it is the desire of council that Huronview operate only the amount of care that extended care provides for,” he told Reeve Kernighan, ‘‘then as soon as somebody gets to 2.5 hours of care we would be putting them in a hospital.” He challenged council­ lors to ask the charitable homes how many of their patients were in the heavy extended care range. Municipal nursing homes, he said, Mabel's Grill Continued from page 4 worth of bad publicity,” she said. Tim said the bank just made the mistake of doing it in the wrong town. If it charged somebody here in town or somebody in some little town on the prairies that kind of charge nobody would have no­ ticed, he said. Hank said the bank is becoming positively ingenious in the ways it can charge you more money. “Next they’ll be charging you rent while they make you stand in line to get to a teller,” he said. Ward Black said he had to admit thebankswenta little toofar on that 10 per cent fee for making change. “Who do they think they are to be able to rip people off like that, government?” were the only mechanism in Ontario that provides the kind of care for people needing extra care. Huron county, he said, has the best home care system in Ontario to help people staying in their homes as long as possible. But, he said, that meant that when people finally were coming to Huronview they required 24-hour nursing care. Looking to the future he said the bill for this care would skyrocket although the length of stay of the typical patient would shorten. Reeve Fisher however wasn’t ready to concede that Huronview had more difficult cases. Blue Water, he said, had more than half its residents who needed 2-4 hours care per day. Tom Cunningham, Reeve of Hullett joined the list of skeptics. Privately owned homes tend tolook after the dollars better, he said. “If your livelihood was on the line, costs might be kept down, ’ ’ he told Mr. Lester. “You might be more reluctant to hire staff. We have to become efficient the way private industry becomes efficient.” Clarence Rau Reeve of Stanley, came to Mr. Lester’s defence. ‘ ‘The decision has to be taken here as to what services you want to provide,” hesaid. ‘‘Ifyouwant lower services you can cut costs. He’s doing a good job with the money he has.” Goderich Deputy Reeve John Doherty wondered how much more staff had been hired and if there was a lot more work why hadn’t there been a big increase in staff. Mr. Lester said Huronview is still operating at the 1984 staff level. Lossie Fuller, deputy reeve of Exeter and a member of the Huronview committee said the committee has been saying “no, no, no” to increases at Huronview for the last three years. “I think he (Mr. Lester), is doing a good job,” she said. The occupancy report for the year seemed to back up the observation that incoming resi­ dents requiredmore care. Resi­ dential care beds were full 84.68 per cent of the time while extended care beds were full 97.64 per cent of the time. The report also showed that 45 percent of the revenue of the home carefromresidents, 48 per cent from the province and seven per cent from the county. Total revenues in 1987 were $5^775,738. WE CAN HELP YOU MAKE PAPER MONEY with a classified ad. 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