Interim staff at St. Joseph’s at Fleming are continuing their work to bring the Catholic long-term care home back to its former condition following the resignation of its board last fall. 

Recent years have seen Ontario’s Ministry of Long-Term Care come down on the Peterborough, Ont., home with various compliance orders, citations and audits, a process that began to take its toll on the former administrator. 

“The ministry was having to reissue the same compliance orders, which eventually became financial fines, usually totalling around $1,100. Through reissuing, those fines go up substantially, and so between the middle of 2023 and May of 2024, the organization had paid tens of thousands of dollars in fines and still had several non-compliance orders outstanding,” said Vickie Kaminski, the interim CEO of  St. Joseph’s at Fleming.

She said it got to the point where the ministry had become increasingly concerned about the organization’s ability to provide safe care for its residents, resulting in a cease-admissions order last May. 

“Combined with management churn, such as the director of care having left, major turnover at the management and nurse levels, the ministry took that as indicators of instability and causes for concern,” she said. “They told the team they were not allowed to admit any residents until they could stabilize the provision of care for the residents that were already there.”

The ministry claims the decision to cease admissions was based on the belief there was a risk of harm to the health or well-being of residents.

St. Joseph’s at Fleming was established as a Catholic, not-for-profit long-term care home through a partnership between Marycrest Home for the Aged, Anson House and nearby Fleming College. For two decades, the home inspired by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peterborough has offered people of all faith backgrounds long-term care and senior independent housing. 

But by November 2024, the former board resigned en masse, leaving the fate of the home up in the air. The  Catholic Health Sponsors of Ontario, a sponsoring agency of St. Joseph, stepped in, appointing an interim board and bringing  St. Elizabeth Health in as the home’s contract manager.

Since December, Kaminski has been working to change the home’s policies, processes and approach to staff education, all areas she feels need to change in order to provide good care and assurance to the ministry that St. Joseph’s can once again do so. 

One of the biggest tasks has been working on preventing similar compliance orders being issued against it across the board, rather than putting out individual “small fires” one at a time. 

“Formally, if the ministry gave us an order for a particular resident, we would fix that resident’s issue, but if they came in the next time, they might find the exact same issue with the resident next door. That is what we’re focusing on now. If we have an order about a care plan being out of date, not only do we get that one up to date, we’re telling the staff to check every care plan, medication orders or whatever the case may be,” Kaminski said. 

St. Joseph’s is also planning to  consolidate all of its residents into three areas to  provide better opportunities for targeted training and education of staff in addressing certain areas of concern. 

Staff will have their work cut out for them. The home currently has 57 vacant beds out of 200 available, and every empty bed adds to revenue and funding loss. Currently, the home is  accruing  $380,000 that will need to be paid back to the ministry when it reconciles funding. 

“A shame,” said Kaminski, thinking of the nearly 700 people on the waiting list for admissions that cannot be addressed until former issues are solved. However,  she said until the team can demonstrate to the ministry that the safe care being provided is solid and sustainable, no admissions can be granted. 

As unfortunate as it may be, she understands the precautions are necessary and voiced her appreciation for both the government as well as staff for taking the recent complications and using it as an opportunity to get St. Joseph’s back on track.  

“ There is no benefit for the ministry to pick on us — they see something that’s concerning their obligation, and when we saw what happened during COVID, with the general public up in arms about protecting our vulnerable people, that is what the ministry is doing,” she said. “It can look like a witch hunt, but it’s really not. It’s about making sure that we are safe and that we are able to provide the care we do in the most effective and secure way possible.” 

The team has the full backing of the Diocese of Peterborough.  

“The Diocese of Peterborough values St Joseph’s at Fleming as a Catholic health care provider in our community: one that continues the impressive legacy of the Sisters of St. Joseph, especially in their care for the elderly. Although the diocese is not responsible for the governance of St Joseph’s at Fleming, our long relationship means that we are following the ongoing review process with great interest,” said Bishop Daniel Miehm. “We trust that this process will assist St. Joseph’s to fulfill its mission and set it on a strong path toward the future.”

While there is no official timeline on when St. Joseph’s will begin admitting new residents, Kaminski hopes spirits can be renewed for both the legacy of the long-term care home and staff. 

“It is pretty tough being under a microscope the way the staff have been and still feel excited about where you work, and so we want to help them celebrate the great things they do. They love the residents, they’re committed to them, and so I think that gives us a really good opportunity to help them start to feel better about what they’re doing here,” Kaminski said.