Censorship by VCHA.

 

Memorandum

Date: August 24, 2020

To: All George Pearson Centre Staff and Physicians

From: Bob Chapman, Executive Director, Vancouver Community

Dr. Michael Norbury, Associate Senior Medical Director, Vancouver Community

CC: Sarah Jordan, Director, Long Term Care and Assisted Living

Marla Gordon, Medical Director, Long Term Care and Geriatric Programs

Romilda Ang, Manager, George Pearson Centre

Dr. James Dunne, Medical Director, George Pearson Centre

Re: Appreciation for GPC Team

As many of you may have seen, there have been some recent media stories and online social media about various aspects of resident experiences at GPC. We understand the depiction this created of GPC has been hurtful for our care team. We also know the focus is often towards our staff and team.

We want to assure you that we know you are caring for our residents and are following all appropriate practices and procedures. Furthermore, we know you are kind, compassionate and dedicated professionals who work every day in a very complex and challenging environment.

We don’t have control over what and how the media reports out on stories, although we have done our best to provide messaging or comment that reflects the true story of your great work without infringing on privacy.

We also understand there’ve been some cases where social media has been used to the detriment of staff and other residents. Please rest assured that, if this crosses the line in terms of privacy/harassment/untruth, etc., we have made every effort to get those posts taken down or deleted. If you are made aware of any additional social media posts, please do let our digital communications team know at webupdates@vch.ca to see what can be done.

We wanted to recognize that this has been a challenging time for those involved, and for you individually seeing your colleagues and teams being criticized publicly. Please know that we appreciate how hard you work, how much you care and how dedicated you are to the residents and the community you serve. While often the focus publicly is on what hasn’t gone well and a need for improvement, together let’s acknowledge the positive impact you are making – each and every day.

Thank you for your contribution every day!

"We apologize for our actions and our inaction in righting wrongs."

Email to St Pauls Hospital December 2012

This is a paragraph in an email to St. Paul's Hospital 12 December 2012.

"We understand that there is no where else for him to go and I have been in communication with Bob Chapman, Director of Risk Manager for VCH, that Randy would consider returning to GPC on certain conditions.  These conditions are not being met or even discussed.  In the past Randy was moved back to GPC with out his consent or even my knowledge.

We have decided according to  your policy posted in his room (7B-7017-1) that if a patient is unwilling to leave St. Paul's, that the hospital charge us the full-cost of his ongoing stay.  This we agree to."

The powers never discussed this email with us.  A copy of this email was signed by Randy and given to St. Paul's Hospital.

Randy was covertly sent back to GPC on Christmas Eve....

Richard Singleton. Director of Risk Manager

Richard Singleton wrote me an email saying I was banned from George Pearson Centre because I attempted to take Randy Michael Walker off the grounds to go home with me. In the process I was assaulted by staff, screamed at, humiliated, and forcibly detained.  Randy is being forced to stay at George Pearson Centre although he has a history of not wanting to live there.  Since Randy can't walk or talk and there were seven out-of-control staff pounding on me I was forced to leave him there.  When the police arrived they were not too bright as they were unable to comprehend that Randy was there against his will.

I was hoping today that the police would clear it up but no.  They said there was a doctor's order on Randy which GPC did not tell me nor show me. There was nothing wrong with Randy to prevent him from going home for a few hours or from going to another hospital.  What planet did the doctor come from.  I am sure it only said to watch Randy more carefully for a week or two. It would not say that he couldn't leave GPC as that would be illegal. A doctor's order is not a jail sentence.  Randy can come and go when he pleases. 

Randy was terrified yesterday and also today when I couldn't see him and secure his release for a few hours. I was told that Randy is very depressed and he knows what is going on and he hates everyone at GPC for doing this to me. Randy is competent so he can leave a residential facility anytime he wants. 

Randy cannot talk and he has to use a wheelchair as he is a quad so it is easy to imprison him and convince him of things that are not true.  The reason Randy does not like it at GPC is that he feels it is not safe.  And it is not safe especially if I cannot have access to him. I will forego talking about his injuries sustained at GPC and the quality of life he does not have there until another time..

I am a petite seventy-four years old woman and it seems that I get regularly demeaned.by VCH and their contract employees.

Randy is 57 so he is not old.  He just had a bad accident. How can they scare him like they have done for over three years. A man who cannot talk or move. 

Years ago the subject of I taking Randy off the grounds of George Pearson Centre went to the VCH Ethics Board and it was determined that Randy had the right to do so.  So why now is this again a problem.  Prior to this week GPC never cared if Randy was well enough to go off site or not. 

During the years prior to the Ethics Board's decision Randy's freedoms were taken away from him as he did not go off site and he never saw the outside for close to two years.

David Ostrow is the CEO of Vancouver Coastal Health and Kip Woodward (604.875.4719)(email: kip.woodward@vch.ca) is its chairman.  Kip is the grandson of the Woodwards Department Store family who built Oakridge..

Also see:  seniorsatrisk
email: sar.coalition@gmail.com

Another Week

The woman neighbour of mine who doesn't like to look at wheelchair bound people spent last weekend painting the new cement steps (blockage) red.  I get to admire her paint job each day.  She like GPC is putting me in my place.  To bully, to bully, to bully.  All you have to do is to end being bullied is to become part of their mob and then find another target for group cohesion. It seems to be a well-known fact within the medical community that the nurses eat their own (i.e. rule by bullying) and that is why we have a nursing shortage.  It only takes a short time after a new novice realizes this and she quickly exits leaving the nursing profession to those that bully rather than care.

And as for George Pearson Centre, the gentleman  (Bob Chapman) who signed my banning letter in February 2011 is going on holidays for three weeks.  Although he is entitled to holidays I do not know how he can afford to take the time away from Vancouver Coastal Health as as he is the

Director of Client Relations;
Director of Risk Management;
Director of Patient Care Quality;
Acting Director of At Home Support;
Acting Director of Complex Care.

There is no law that says he can't forfeit his holidays for the greater good like the 1,000,000 people he should be answering to.

Watch what will happen.  A new VCH policy will be put in place saying that management will no long tell anyone that they are going on holidays as it would destablize the public's faith in what is going on by their extensive leaves. When they are on holidays the public will just be told that the person is not available.

I was absolutely amazed on Friday.  I had Randy with me at my place.  When it is hot I make sure that he is always in a cool place away from the sun and now that I cannot have access to the shade which my neighbour has blocked with her red cement blocks, Randy was inside.  He was acting very combatively.  He kept pointing randomly around my one-room residence.  I was beginning to think he had no more brain cells.  I finally gave him a pointer so he could point better than with his hand.  He kept pointing everywhere.  He was manic.  He was pointing at the floor area.  Then I realized what he wanted.  He wanted me to unclutter my living space.  Do you want me to cleanup my apartment, I asked, and he nodded yes.  It is rather hard to unclutter a 450 square foot apartment that is the home to two doggies who like to play/distribute all my things.  It would be a lot easier if the agent for the property would force the lady with the red steps to give up some of her storage space as she has a crawl space, two storage lockers, a extra small room that used to be for caretakers equipment, and a garage for her new black convertible (MB) but that will never happen.  The lady with the red steps lives in a two bedroom duplex by herself and I stress by herself.  And she isn't even a pack rat, she is very very neat and orderly to the point of it from my observation being an obsession.  What she claims is hers is hers. No sharing allowed.  Same rational as the head nurse from George Person Centre. I am engulfed by these mindsets.
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I haven't given up on Randy

I haven't given up on Randy. It is so overwhelming that I needed to focus on something else so here it is: we should limit the size of non-profits to neighbour councils or better yet get rid of them altogether.

As for Randy today is such a beautiful day and I am prevented from visiting Randy. The policies of VCH is getting very upsetting to me.

I was told that "the team" decided on my banning ten months ago. At Randy's Annual Review in November which I attended none of the team (some 15 responsible for his care) knew that they were part of the team that banned me in fact my banning was never discussed with them. Dr. Dunne, the medical director for GPC wasn't there, but earlier he had said that he won't ban anyone from seeing anyone in the hospital. So these decisions that affect the care (the will to live) of patients are not those of the care team. So it is back to Linda Rose, the director of Residential Care, who never met me before the banning and only once after and/or Bob Chapman the director of Risk Management who I had met the week before my banning but as I exited that meeting I remember saying that no one was even listening to what I was saying over the fact that I was being bullied by GPC. A week later I got banned because of the bullies and their targetted treatment of me. It was open season on me because Mr. Chapman did not do his job. First by not listening to me and second by not doing anything expeditiously. But then how could he do anything expeditiously when he didn't even listen to what I was saying. The day after the banning I protested at GPC with a sign on the sidewalk boulevard, the police were called and told GPC that protesting on the sidewalk was legal, and I remember telling the social worker at that time that no one listened to me at the meeting.

Things have to change with non-profits: full legal due process when it affects a person's rights of association has to happened and just to remind all Vancouver Coastal Health is a non-profit society which makes its own laws disguised as policies and there is no appeal process. If you want something to go your way, you have to suck up to not only to management but also the lowest of the low paid employees as well. No wonder bribery is rampant in third world countries. You pay or suck up.

I am off to Safeway to check out the prices that an individual got as free food from the the Food Bank on Thursday. It doesn't seem to be worth the three-four hours it takes to get the free food most of which an individual might not buy in the first place. What happened before we had the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. I remember being poor when I was young. But I do not remember any talk about food banks. This is what happens when you work for fifty years of your life, you don't know what is going on. And now when you do, you realize that no one else does either. And who do I blame, I blame the CBC.
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