Once Upon a Time in Long Term Care.......I Was Inspired

Once upon a time, there was a company called Central Park Lodges and they wanted to get into the long term care business and opened their first home in Winnipeg which was referred to as CPL1. Today, this building is called Parkview Place on Edmonton Street.  Then came CPL2.  This building is also still in operation and was aptly called Poseidon Place. The company moved on and opened other facilities in several other provinces and other homes in Winnipeg.  Throughout the last six decades, the company has transformed itself by name several times and is currently operating as Revera. They are a publicly traded and are a for-profit company.  The company also owns several Assisted Living Facilities. There is always some tension between the two lines of business as to which is more important to the company.  Currently, the charity that the company partners with is Habitat for Humanity. That should answer that question. 

Part of my job was to recruit residents to my Revera home. This was mostly done through the family members.  People would often ask why they should place their loved ones in a home that was for-profit.  I had the answer.  Given that we were a national company, we had more levels of scrutiny and more resources to enhance lives.  Different provinces had different standards and we chose the toughest standards to apply to all provinces.  We also recognized that people had a choice so we devoted more effort into the customer service aspect of care.  I also said that we provided a multi-disciplinary holistic approach and ensured a personalized care plan.  I was very sincere.  We had key values.  Respect.  Integrity.  Compassion. Excellence. I used to say those words every morning as I entered the building and if I could not identify one way that I demonstrated each value that day, I would go back in.  It happened once. 

It was easy to do this because I had such amazing role models in leadership.  The CEO Jeff Lauzon really believed in enhancing lives.  The SrVP of Long Term Care was a gentleman named Dan Kaniuk.  I remember him showing raw emotion on a teleconference call that made it obvious how much he cared about every single resident entrusted into our care.  Then, there was this amazing woman named Joanne Dyckman who was the Director of Long Term Care. If you met her once, you would remember.  She was like a ray of sunshine and a hurricane all wrapped into one.  She had so much energy and never lost focus on what was really important, which was our residents.  I had to be reminded that I worked for a for-profit company because the leadership at the top was so responsive to any ideas that would enhance the quality of life of our residents. 

Then, Lauzon's contract run-out and a new CEO was recruited.  From what I understand in these big companies, when a new Leader is at the top, they want to bring their own team in. Dan and Joanne moved on. 

Joanne Dyckman went to another for-profit company in a Senior leadership position.  Today, I read a news article that she is no longer in that position following some comments that she made that were overheard.  Even though I know her to be one of the most compassionate caring people I ever had the privilege of meeting, I wasn't surprised by her statements.  She is known to work 7 days a week and over 12 hours a day.  Even when she is not at work, she is always working on her lap top.  It was not uncommon to see an email from her that originated at 2:45 am.  Knowing, Joanne, she has likely doubled down on her workload during the pandemic which has hit long term care hard in Ontario. I am sure the burden of caring has made her feel personally responsible.  If she could, I am sure she would personally tend to each resident with compassion and seek to ensure dignity at all times. 

We are all encouraged to extend grace to one another and not judge a person's life on the basis of one of their worst moments.  Those comments that Joanne Dyckman said do not represent the true Joanne Dyckman.  They represent the comments of a woman worked to exhaustion and experiencing compassion fatigue. 

The sad thing is that no one will be lining up to take her job and that is a very sad thing for long term care in Ontario. 

Joanne was one of the good ones.