Retirees forced to find own care

Residents of a Winnipeg retirement home have taken matters into their own hands after the majority of the facility’s home-care aides were laid off following their unionization.

A committee of residents have banded together to work with a private agency to staff Shaftesbury Park Retirement Residence after many of its existing aides complete their final shift on Monday.

“It is heartbreaking because there are a lot of vulnerable people here who are not capable of advocating for themselves,” said Joelle Robinson, who has lived at the home since 2023 after she suffered a brain aneurysm. “We’re trying very hard to make it so that our residents aren’t completely up the creek.”

Robinson, a retired lawyer, joined Terry Hopkinson and several other residents of the South Tuxedo home to create a committee and send out a request for proposal to eight companies that specialized in seniors care.

JTRC Care Services was chosen for its staffing availability and the fact it agreed to charge residents the same amount they receive as part of the province’s family-managed care program.

Cherry Aguilar, managing director for the private home-care staffing agency, said she has been meeting with residents to co-ordinate schedules and learn about the needs at Shaftesbury Park.

Aguilar hopes to hire some of the laid-off employees in an effort to maintain consistent care for residents.

Seventy of the 80 aides who work at the residence were told last month by All Seniors Care, which operates Shaftesbury Park, their positions were being deleted. They received union certification that same day, June 22.

At the time, the organization told residents it was terminating the use of the self and family-managed care program. The provincial program provides funding to individuals and their families to hire private home-care workers if they don’t want care provided by provincially employed workers.

Shaftesbury Park said the program was no longer “economically viable.”

The home gave residents a list of agencies they could hire following the layoffs, but Robinson said it has been little help otherwise.

“The fact that Shaftesbury and their parent company did this to an entire population of very vulnerable people who rely on this program, and basically threw up their hands and said, ‘You’re on your own’ is appalling,” the 55-year-old said.

Robinson moved to Shaftesbury Park, in part, because her parents live there, but also because it offered the family-managed care program that helped her avoid moving to a nursing home after her medical event.

Residents are angry they have to co-ordinate care for themselves. Sandy Popham relies on the home’s staff for specialized care and said it will take too long to teach new workers how to give her proper care.

“I’m terrified to know what will happen after July 20 if something isn’t figured out,” she said.

The home, at 905 Shaftesbury Boulevard, has independent and assisted-living units. Residents pay, on average, $4,500 per month to live there. All Seniors Care runs six for-profit homes in Winnipeg.

Canadian Union of Public Employees spokesperson Dale Edmunds said the union filed an unfair labour practice complaint against the employer following the termination notice. CUPE and All Seniors Care are in mediation before the Manitoba Labour Board, as the union hopes to work out compensation for workers about to lose their jobs.

In a statement last month, All Seniors Care “unequivocally” denied it violated the rights of employees and claimed discussions about the future of the family-managed care program had been ongoing for six months.

“The decision to discontinue family-managed care at Shaftesbury was based on bona fide business concerns and has nothing to do with employees deciding to join a union. It is simply business as usual. No business can continue if it steadily is losing money,” the June 24 statement said.

All Seniors Care did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca