This article was first published by Sudbury.com, a Village Media publication.
Several family members of nursing home residents in Sudbury have come forward to express concern about the care and well-being of their loved ones at Extendicare Countryside home in the city’s South End.
The Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care (MLTC) has issued a cease admissions order for that home following a series of inspection reports that were filed in December, October and September, outlining several issues on non-compliance with Ontario’s Fixing Long Term Care Act.
The inspection reports outlined incidents that took place since April of 2024 when residents began moving into the newly built Countryside facility at 2307 Algonquin Rd., most of them transferring in from the former Extendicare Falconbridge.
The inspections showed there were 21 issues of non-compliance in the September report, nine issues of non-compliance in the October report and 11 issues outlined in the December report.
The decision to disallow any further admissions to Extendicare Countryside was made by Brad Robinson, director of the long-term care inspections branch for the MLTC, saying it was his belief that there is risk to the health, safety and well-being of residents who reside in the home, which would include any individuals who could be admitted to the home in the future.
Robinson’s order was issued Dec.16.
The issues raised were wide-ranging, and included failing to document changes in a resident’s care plan, failing to follow up on a resident who fell down in their room, failing to provide proper care for a surgical wound after a resident came back from the hospital, failing to help manage medications and allegedly neglecting an individual resident.
Within days of the order to cease all new admissions, local management informed residents there would be a “town hall” meeting to let residents and family members know what was going on. The meeting was scheduled for Dec. 20.
The issue was first brought to public attention by Sudbury.com on Dec.19, 2024.
Several family members contacted Sudbury.com to say they are worried about family members. They talked by telephone and email, asking that their names not be revealed to protect the privacy of their loved ones.
One of the family members, identified as R.C., posted on social media she was not happy with how the town hall meeting was conducted. She was interviewed by Sudbury.com.
R.C. said she rushed to the meeting after work on that Friday because she wanted to be sure that patient concerns were being talked about in an open town hall forum.
She said she was disappointed when Extendicare management said the purpose of the meeting was to outline only the details of the MLTC order for new patients.
"And they asked for people not to talk about personal situations that have happened," said R.C.
"I believe that the reason they asked for that is because they didn't want other families to know just how bad it was, okay, and so that this town hall was only to discuss how they cannot accept any new patients at the moment," she added.
"So as soon as that was said, well, then you just kind of knew it was, it was bad. If they're asking people not to talk about private issues, you know that there's a lot going on like, you know, your instinct tells you there's a lot going on, right?"
R.C. said numerous family members at the meeting tried to stand and talk about their specific concerns but were reminded the meeting was to discuss the actions by the Ministry of Long-Term Care and how Extendicare is working to correct the situation outlined in the cease admissions order.
R.C. added that in order to explain concerns and worries about her mother, she told the meeting she was speaking hypothetically. That way, R.C. said she was allowed to speak. R.C. said she believes there are not enough staff members to do their jobs and look after the needs of the patients .
She also gave the example of her mother developing skin inflammation on her back because she was not being dried properly after showers or bathing. She provided photographs for social media.
R.C. said she wasn't aware of the situation until earlier in the year when she brought a dress for her mother to try on in preparation for a wedding coming up next year. That's when she noticed the skin condition.
"That wouldn't have happened if somebody had taken the time to properly dry her," said R.C.
She said she and her sister raised the matter with management at the nursing home but she wasn't entirely pleased about the response.
"I don't want to say they brushed it off, but they said that they're going to take the time to talk to staff and whatnot, you know, it's just kind of things to appease you, in a sense," said R.C.
She said she and her sister are vigilant about such things because their mother is 90 years of age and has Alzheimer's disease.
At another point in time R.C. said her mother experienced a fall in her room and waited more than 20 minutes before anyone came to help her.
R.C. said their decision to place their mom in a nursing home was one of necessity because the children are all getting older and are just not able to look after their elderly mother and provide the care she needs.
R.C. said she spoke with family members of other residents. She said there are many concerns about the level of care the patients are getting.
She said it is up to family members to stay vigilant and to keep informing staff, ministry inspectors and local MPPs about any issues they become aware of.
"This needs to be known about in the community, because it's not getting any better," said R.C.
She said in her opinion, Extendicare management needs to look at local administration because the residents continue to face the same problems, week after week and month after month.
Another family member of a patient contacted Sudbury.com by email to say conditions at the home were “terrible” for patients
“No family or human should have to endure this place,’ said the woman who we will identify as L.B.
She too said there was not enough qualified staff to look after the needs of the patients.
“But I can tell you there is a real concern for our loved ones safety,” L.B. said in an email..
“It was really clear how frustrated families are. I am happy this is out there now and how poorly managed this facility is. And let me be clear, it is only a new building with the same problems from the old location,” said L.B.
Her reference to the old location refers to the former Extendicare nursing home that was located on Falconbridge Road. Countryside was built as an upgrade and replacement facility for the Falconbridge venue.
L.B. said it was her opinion that Countryside has not been successful in keeping staff for any significant length of time. She said that has put pressure on the residents, and also on the remaining staff who try to meet their needs.
She said the Dec. 20 town hall meeting was an exercise in administrators trying to smooth over the problems with nice sounding words and phrases
”They sure know how to manipulate their words to sound like they will fix problems, Don't believe everything you hear from this place, they are master manipulators,” L.B. wrote in an email.
She added it is going to take a long time before trust is restored for residents and many staff members.
Another person who spoke with Sudbury.com spoke out on behalf of her husband, who is a resident at the facility.
“I have a loved one at Countryside Extendicare and have several complaints,” K.L. wrote in an email.
She said her husband has a catheter and it is difficult to convince the care providers of the need to install fastener devices for the catheter hose.
“They don't provide extension hoses for the leg bag so l purchased six from Amazon. He pays $2,900 monthly — you would think his care would be dealt with. He has a bed that is too small for his size. l could go on and on,” K.L. wrote, adding that she is “very disappointed to say the least.”
A text message sent from Extendicare to residents and family members at the Countryside home said that in the next few weeks residents will notice additional resources from Extendicare’s head office on site to provide support.
“Their role will be to help us work through unresolved challenges and to strengthen our processes and approaches long-term. Their support will free up our Countryside leadership team to be more present and accessible to residents, families and team members,” said the text.
“Our ultimate goal is to give our team members more time to focus on what matters most: providing quality care to our residents. This is just the start of a sustained effort to improve care.”
The message was similar to the response provided by Extendicare’s corporate media office when the company was contacted by Sudbury.com for comment.
"Extendicare Countryside is a newly built long-term care home that welcomed all residents from the older Extendicare Falconbridge to their new home this past spring. In parallel, the much larger home worked to steadily welcome more than 50 new residents from the community, applying a much-needed capacity increase for seniors awaiting care in the region," said the company.
"Navigating a transformation of this scale resulted in new challenges. It will require continued commitment to new ways of doing things in our new home to best serve our residents and their families," said Extendicare.
The company also said it has created an "action plan" to make immediate and sustained improvements as follows:
- Bolstered on-site leadership, including additional oversight for all clinical operations by a second Regional Director deployed to support the team directly within the home;
- Increased care team staffing levels to exceed provincial requirements;
- Improved our system for direct engagement between home leaders and residents and families to address concerns as they arise, guided by a National Director of Quality, and;
- Strengthened recruitment efforts and supports for our dedicated team.
The letter ordering Extendicare to cease admissions was put in place on Dec. 16 and is in effect until further notice.
The Ontario government said it has put an inspections procedure in place so that investigations can be done when there is evidence that any nursing home is in violation of the Fixing Long Term Care Act.
The new unit is now active and will investigate allegations such as:
- Failing to protect a resident from abuse or neglect,
- Repeated and ongoing non-compliance,
- Failing to comply with ministry inspector’s orders,
- Suppressing and/or falsifying mandatory reports, and
- Negligence of corporate directors.
Len Gillis covers health care stories as well as the mining industry for Sudbury.com .
