Hogarth Riverview Manor ordered to not admit new residents

The largest nursing home in Thunder Bay is unable to accept new residents, at least temporarily.

Hogarth Riverview Manor, with over 400 beds, was opened in January 2016. All but five of the beds are currently filled.

A recent inspection by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care revealed the facility had too many outstanding orders, forcing the Ministry to order a halt to any new admissions.

"We have had a number of compliance orders over time," said Tracey Buckler, the President and CEO of St Joseph's Care Group, the organization that runs the facility.

"What's happened in this case is that there were a number of repeat orders that hadn't moved along far enough to the inspectors satisfaction."

Buckler said many of the orders have to do with training, and re-training staff who now work at Hogarth Riverview, who previously worked at other long-term care facilities before they were shut down and merged into the one facility.

"There's also an issue of when you bring three cultures together. And I think that from three different homes, people worked in three different ways. So, when you bring people together, you want to make sure that the three groups that are coming together are doing the absolute best for the residents that they're there to serve. And, sometimes those changes can be very difficult for people."

Buckler said one example of retraining would be the use of restraints for residents. She said staff need to be properly trained in how to use them, but also how to gather the proper consent from family, or the residents themselves before they are put to use.

"So there's a culture thing that we need to work through that takes a lot of investment, and a lot of leadership to be able to state expectations to be able to make sure that people know what's expected and what they're accountable for."

Staffing shortage

Buckler said the home is also struggling with a staffing shortage, particularly when it comes to personal support workers.

She said employees are consistently working overtime, or doubling up on shifts, just to ensure basic staffing needs are met.

"So I think that the staffing piece of it has been a challenge for sure. We're still short a number of positions. We have a number of vacancies, particularly in our personal support worker workforce."

Buckler said training is ongoing, but admitted it will take a while until staff are re-trained to the Ministry's satisfaction.

"Until we achieve the compliance to the Ministry's satisfaction, we will be in a cease admission status. So, I don't have specific dates at this point. We know we have a significant amount of retraining to do, and we have about 400 clinic staff. So, that takes a bit of time to coordinate and to organize, and to make sure that we can get the staff into the training that they require."