No heart from government in this home closure - owners

BY NANCY KELLY

Kings County Register

Owners and employees of the Orchard Home for Special Care in Welton’s Corner, north of Aylesford, feel betrayed by the provincial Department of Community Services (DCS).

Residents living in the home were abruptly relocated last week to new accommodations in other communities in southwestern Nova Scotia.

A total of 11 residents with physical and mental disabilities were residing at the home, located on Route 221.

“This was home for these people - many of whom have lived here for more than 20 years,” said co-owner Yvonne Knowles, who, with her husband, Larry; has owned and operated the rural residential care facility for the past nine years. While they admit they have been struggling to keep up with the costs of running the home, they say the DCS used repeated and an August 6 request for assistance as an excuse to move the residents.

In the recent letter , the couple informed the DCS of their dire financial circumstances.

“We have been advising your department for the last several years that, without an adequate resident population and reasonable per diem rate, we would reach this stage. Your department has not provided either, and, regretfully, we have now arrived at the tipping point.”

“Does that sound like I wanted to close my home?” asked Larry. “What I wanted was some help to keep the doors open.”

After residents were hastily moved by the DCS August 11 and 12 to other homes in Waterville, Windsor, Morristown, Clare and Lockport - without notification; a spokesperson from Community Services reported to the media it was the Knowless’ decision - not theirs - to close the home.

“That is simply untrue,” refutes Larry. “They are trying to present it as if we jumped rather than were pushed.”

He says the department’s long-promised review that could have offered much needed operational funds never emerged, pushing them "to the point of financial non-viability.”

The couple has learned the DCS has plans to stop funding rural and two-story homes, both characteristics of their own facility; and they believe the department was biding its time until the Knowles could no longer afford to operate. Repeated “fishing trips” by department case workers in the past couple of months to find problems at the home have been “very unsettling for residents.” The Knowles contend DCS representatives had been trying to convince residents to move to other facilities.

“But the worst thing of all is they treated the residents like commodities that can be moved around at their will,” said Larry.

Under the home’s original agreement with the province, the DCS was to send social workers out to the home once a month. Recently the department had increased the visits to twice weekly. The home, originally licensed on a once-yearly basis - and is currently licensed until September 30; has recently been operating with three-month licenses.

"The clues about forcing us to close were all there, now that we think about it,” said Larry.

Like her employers, Clara Newcombe, who has worked at the home since 1986; is devastated.

“They called me ‘Mom’ here - we were a real family; it was heartbreaking to see them scattered to other homes. Many didn’t really understand what was happening to them.”

Fellow employee Brenda Duggan says she hasn’t thought about what will happen after her last day of work August 15.

“This forces all of us to make important decisions about what is next. Do we stay in this field or not?”

After investing heavily in their care facility over the past nine years, the Knowles are facing the prospect of losing the house now they are no longer in partnership with the province to provide care to the residents.

“They haven’t held up their end of the bargain since day one, and just simply wrote us off. In the process, they displaced people who called this place home.”

The loss of their livelihood and family of residents has been difficult enough, said a visibly saddened Larry, but the DCS’s comments about why the closure occurred just added insult to injury.

“I think (Community Services) thought they could swoop in and move the residents, knowing we weren’t in a position to protest. But the way they did it without regard to the feelings and rights of the residents was just plain wrong. And we think they need to be accountable for their actions. “

As they worked alongside their staff August 13 to organize residents‚ files and wrap up operations, the Knowles offered their thanks to neighbours, which they say were always supportive of the residents.

“We would take them down to Burt’s story in Auburn and the staff would be so patient and kind. The staff at Zellers in Greenwood was the same. So many people made our residents feel like they were part of a community. Isn’t that what residential care is supposed to be about?”