Tag Archives: health care

06.18.16
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City’s negotiations on Valleyview labour deal deemed ‘bizarre’ and ‘ludicrous’

city_scope_logo-cmykIt’s a case of “inefficiency, it’s disrespectful to the employees and it’s going to cost the city a fortune.”

Not a flattering assessment of labour negotiations between the city and Valleyview Home employees, represented by Unifor Local 27.

In fact, Unifor national representative Robert Buchanan calls the turn of events since May 25 when a settlement was reached with city administration both “bizarre” and “ludicrous.”

To recap, on June 8 about 100 City of St. Thomas employees at Valleyview voted in favour of the May 25 settlement.

The three-year deal provides for a two per cent wage increase in each year of the deal in addition to health and welfare benefit improvements.

The employees have been without a contract since Dec. 31 of last year.

The union’s bargaining team also secured a commitment from the city to maintain full-time jobs and add more staffing hours to the laundry department.

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12.12.15
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Excitement is good, trust even better

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As retirement announcements go, this was an odd one.
The Community Living Elgin memorandum popped up in mysterious fashion at the City Scope inbox to announce executive director Tom McCallum has opted to retire from the organization.
The timing of his decision raised eyebrows in that Community Living Elgin appeared to have fared well in a Ministry of Community and Social Services’ financial and accountability review, the results of which were released at the end of November.

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07.26.14
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Potential difficulties with police HQ renos?

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It has been strangely quiet on the police headquarters front, albeit the petitions are still available to sign in city businesses and, no doubt, hundreds of individuals have registered their opposition to construction of a new police building.
Oddly, few if any of these ratepayers have attended the bi-weekly police building committee meetings at city hall, where both sides of the picture are being presented in a fashion that will allow an apples-to-apples cost comparison.
At the July 16 meeting, a representative from the Ventin Group confirmed a presentation will be made to council on Aug. 11 which will include the best estimate to date on the cost of a new police HQ adjacent to the Timken Centre.
Most revealing, however, was the update from Sean Panjer of SPH Engineering, which is in charge of detailing the cost of renovating the existing police station.
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07.19.14
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We welcome your business, but not right there

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It should be a fair assumption the city has an open door policy to welcome new business to St. Thomas and make the move here as seamless as possible. Why would you operate in any other fashion?

So why are city staff — and to a lesser extent some members of city council — throwing up roadblocks and mounds of red tape in the direction of Kristie Morgan, who operates a much-needed adult day nursery at 24 Elizabeth St?

A nursery that operates six hours each weekday and employs five people in a city starved for jobs.

Yes she was afforded a small victory Monday when council allowed her to continue to operate her Time For You 2 facility in an area zoned residential, which permits churches, private schools and day nurseries limited to children under 18 with a developmental handicap.

Morgan’s operation deals with those over 18 years of age who benefit greatly from the life and social skills offered by Morgan and her staff. In the process affording much needed relief for the parents of these individuals.
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07.12.14
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Common sense and the city’s zoning bylaws

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Kristie Morgan is discovering her dream of bettering the lives of adults with developmental handicaps has run afoul of the city’s zoning bylaws and her bid for a zoning amendment will be front and centre at Monday’s meeting of council.

Morgan operates what is referred to as an “adult day nursery” at 24 Elizabeth St., which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Its a residential setting — known as Time For You 2 — where adults with special needs are catered to through a variety of activities that teach life and social skills while providing a much-needed respite for the families of these individuals.

The adult nursery is unique in St. Thomas, however the city would rather Morgan move her operation to an area zoned as industrial or commercial.
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04.26.14
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Buckle up, we’re approaching ram speed

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The second meeting of the police building committee attracted a strange assortment of bedfellows Thursday morning at city hall.
Notables included former mayor Peter Ostojic, former alderman Marie Turvey and former Elgin County Board of Education chairman Bob McCaig.
Discussion of a new police headquarters, to be located on city-owned land adjacent to the Timken Centre, has generated such pushback the meeting had to be moved to a larger venue.
Deliberations had barely begun and McCaig couldn’t contain himself any longer.
“Why are you in such a hurray,” he blustered, as the committee attempted to establish a schedule for developing a request for proposal for architectural services.
“A group of people want to ram this through.” Continue reading →

08.10.13
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Time for more pruning over at the hospital

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For the second time in just over a year, a high-profile figure over at St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital has been shown the door, ostensibly because they don’t fit into future plans for the facility.
On Thursday, chief financial officer Malcolm Hopkins was dumped by CEO Paul Collins.
“I think change is a part of organizational life,” Collins said in an interview with the Times-Journal. “I’m trying to plan for the long-term future of STEGH and Malcolm has served this hospital for 11 years.”
Well if he has served the organization well, why was he unceremoniously dumped?
And why was the internal communication at the hospital a little on the vague side?
Paul Bode, chairman of the board of governors, was under the impression Hopkins had retired when we talked to him on Thursday.
“Malcolm just made the decision (to retire) yesterday (Tuesday) morning. He decided it was probably time to retire. It’s my impression that he retired. That’s how it was presented to me.”
An odd way to send off a long-standing player on the team.
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04.20.13
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Filling vacant seat will be a true test of this council

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When city council next gathers at city hall on May 6, the seat previously occupied by Sam Yusuf will officially be declared vacant. Council will then have 60 days, under the Ontario Municipal Act, to appoint a new alderman.
It’s an undertaking that has been dealt with several times in the past decade or so, however T-J reporter and People columnist Eric Bunnell reminds us of the fascinating parallel he wrote about in April, 2000.
Helen Cole had announced her resignation and council met behind closed doors to unanimously agree Jeff Kohler should fill the vacancy.
He was the third runner-up in the 1997 municipal vote, however the top vote-getter of the also-rans, Terry Shackelton, had already moved on to council and the next individual in line, former alderman Hugh Shields, declined the appointment.
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04.15.13
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An Open Letter to the St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital Board of Governors Regarding the Outsourcing of Medical Transcription

The following letter is from Stratford-area health care advocate Frances Simone regarding the hospital’s decision to out-source its medical transcription services. She has also created a petition urging the hospital to re-consider the decision . . .

On May 22, 2013, STEGH plans to lay off all of its in-house Medical Transcriptionists and outsource their jobs to Accentus. STEGH is making a poor decision that will harm staff and put patient care at risk.

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I have contacted Mr. Paul Collins, CEO to discuss this matter and have received no response. As a result, this letter is directed to the Board of Governors and the community of St. Thomas.

The community of St. Thomas deserves to know the facts rather than the public relations spin. Accentus is not an Ottawa company, it was owned by New York based High Road Capital Partners, a private equity firm, and BMO Capital Corporation since 2009. In a merger and acquisition deal closing in November 2012, Accentus was sold to Nuance Communications. Nuance Communications is a multinational corporation headquartered in Massachusetts, whose CEO earned $37,077,679 million total calculated compensation in 2012.
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