Interior Health has placed another high-level administrator at the beleaguered Summerland Seniors Village in what it described a “rare and unusual” measure.
The health authority announced last week it appointed the administrator to oversee residential care at the privately owned facility, which has been under intense scrutiny of late.
Provincial legislation allows IH to appoint an administrator to run even a private community care facility if there are reasonable grounds to believe that there is a risk to the health or safety of a person in care.
“This is a rare and unusual step but one that we feel is necessary,” Dr. Andrew Larder, a senior IH medical health officer, said in a press release.
“Interior Health has also brought in additional nursing staff to work at the site to help bolster the clinical leadership we feel is crucial.”
The health authority funds 75 of 80 residential-care beds at the facility and 18 of 36 assisted-living suites. Summerland Seniors Village also boasts 70 independent-living units.
It was in one of the independent-living units where 91-year-old Alfredo Bonaldi was found near death in November after he was stricken with a suspected case of food poisoning.
His absence at meal times should have caused staff to check on him, but didn’t, and he died in a hospital two weeks later.
Multiple investigations were launched after Bonaldi’s family went public with the story. The facility is owned by Retirement Concepts.
Interior Health’s licensing program continues to work with the site to address infractions identified during inspections in October and November.
Licensing met with the operator as recently as Jan.14 and since that meeting, has laid out items that need to be addressed within specific timeframes. These reviews have identified common areas of concern regarding staffing levels, education and training, and leadership.