For Immediate Release October 21, 2005
Granny-in-a-box
Protest against Chinook Health Region’s
closure of long-term care facilities
Nurses from Extendicare Lethbridge, nursing students and other supporters will be holding an overnight vigil “in-a-box” outside Chinook Health Region’s offices on Friday, October 21, 2005. Nurses, other Extendicare employees and Friends of Medicare representatives are protesting the planned closure of Extendicare Lethbridge and the end of nursing home care at St. Michaels Health Centre.
“This will be the end of almost all full service nursing home beds in the city. Are we going to end up just keeping Granny in a box?” asks Dolly Deringer, President of the United Nurses of Alberta Local at Extendicare. “Chinook Health Region is moving fast to completely close the full-service nursing home beds in Lethbridge. With plans like this, it is no wonder we have a crisis in care in the province,” she said.
Dolly Deringer said the nurses want to let Lethbridge residents know what the planned closures will mean. “We think the people of Lethbridge need to know that they cannot expect to be well taken care of if they become too infirm to care for themselves. The Region is not telling the people of this city what the real implications are of closing these facilities,” she said.
The Health Region says it will move the full-service nursing home residents to assisted living facilities. “It’s a plan to warehouse these people, not provide care for them,” Dolly Deringer says. “Moving to assisted living is one of the main reasons all these provincial reports say care levels are completely inadequate. Assisted living was designed for people who need a low level of support, not for people who require nursing home services.”
The nurses point out that the Alberta Auditor General’s report on Long-term care in the province said standards and staffing need to be improved in the province’s facilities. “The Auditor General specifically said that facilities are not meeting standards for delivering medications, for assessing and planning for resident care, or for charting the essential records on residents. These are all nursing jobs that Chinook says it’s going to do with almost no nurses on staff in assisted living,” Dolly Deringer said.
Vigil starts at 8 pm Friday, October 21, 2005
Coffee and treats 9 am Saturday, October 22, 2005.
Chinook Health Region Corporate Office
960 - 19 Street South
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For more information: Dolly Deringer, President United Nurses of Alberta Local #161: Home: 328-2859 Cell 393-2859
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