Health care advocates in Central Alberta are demanding that Alberta Health Services take over the operation of Red Deer’s newest privately operated long-term care centre.

Local chapters of Friends of Medicare, Council of Canadians, and Central Alberta Council on Aging say the neglect of residents due to the lack of staff at Extendicare Michener Hill can’t continue and the province needs to step in.

Alberta Health Services recently shut down two publicly-funded and operated nursing homes and moved residents to Extendicare, a publicly-funded and privately-operated facility.

Extendicare, with 220-long term care beds, opened in September to become the new home for residents at Red Deer Nursing Home and Valley Park Manor. The transfer of residents stopped for about a month due to lack of staff and when transfers resumed, so did staffing complaints.

Ken Collier, chair of the local Red Deer and Area Chapter of the Council of Canadians, said Extendicare has been operating for about 50 years and has opened new buildings and moved residents before.

“Surely Extendicare has enough experience under its belt to know how to do these things. But they don’t. They keep on fumbling. They keep on dropping the ball,” Collier said on Tuesday.

(The province) thinks that private sector can take on these responsibilities and do as good a job as Alberta Health Services. Stories in the newspaper, one after the other, tell us they can’t.”

For months, the local health care advocate groups, Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, seniors and the public have protested the closure of the two nursing homes while there was a waiting list for long-term care beds.

A petition with 6,890 signatures to save Red Deer Nursing Home and Valley Park Manor from closure was tabled in the legislature in October.

Extendicare Michener Hill is the result of an agreement between Extendicare and former David Thompson Health Region in 2006.

Brenda Corney, chairperson of Friends of Medicare, Red Deer Chapter, said Extendicare has had four years to prepare yet “they’re running by the seat of their pants.”

“If the government had taken responsibility to build the facility and staff the facility, we could have had a smooth transition,” Corney said.

The families have expressed a lot of concern about the level of staffing and the length of time residents sometimes need to wait for things like medication or assistance to get to the bathroom, but all management continues to say is that they are hiring more staff, said Corney, whose mother lives at Extendicare.

“(Extendicare) says they are doing the best they can. The issue is the best they’re doing is unacceptable,” said Doug Janssen, spokesperson with Central Alberta Council on Aging.

Corney said existing staff are working hard, but many of the residents are wheelchair-bound and require more assistance.

Kerry Bales, vice-president of Alberta Health Services Central Zone, said AHS continues to monitor and work with Extendicare to enhance its staffing.

“There’s been a lot of concern recently in the last couple of days concerning quality of care. I would encourage people if they have specific concerns that they need to let us know,” Bales said.

“(Extendicare) has proven themselves to be a high quality care provider and we would continue to support them in fulfilling their obligations,” Bales said.

Roman Cooney, senior vice-president communications for Alberta Health Services, said a previously scheduled site visit to Extendicare will happen today and it will give the ministry a better handle on its transition issues.

“Michener is only a few weeks into operation. It is a bigger facility, in terms of more continuing care spaces and it’s going to take some time to work through that transition,” said Cooney.

The province is not giving up on Extendicare, he said.

“I think we need to give it more than a few weeks before we’d even contemplate that.”

szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com