Graham Brown, right, president of the Lloydminster Concerned Citizens for Seniors Care Society, engages Leonard Wegner, director of continuing care for the Lloydminster catchment area, during a special information meeting last week at the Legacy Centre. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
No Worries. That’s what the Lloydminster Concerned Citizens for Seniors Care Society is saying following a special meeting with bi-provincial health reps at the Legacy Centre on Feb. 24.
It was a relief for the group to learn the recent operational takeover of the Dr. Cooke Extended Care Centre and the Lloydminster Continuing Care Centre (LCC) by Alberta Health Services cuts red tape and duplication, while maintaining seamless healthcare to all residents of Lloydminster.
“We’re still interested in making sure we operate as a seamless community, but in this case, it did make sense to have those go back to Alberta Health Services,” said Senior Care Society president, Graham Brown, following a question and answer session.
AHS officially took over the administration of the two long-term care facilities on Dec. 20, 2021, from the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA).
The two provincial health authorities have been working since last June toward the transition, following a mutual agreement to cancel a long-standing contract for the operating of continuing care services at both facilities.
Debora Okrainetz, director of continuing care North East, Central Zone, AHS, said transitioning continues with staff learning new processes and computer systems.
“We are seeing some positives, however, change is difficult. It takes a bit of time,” she said.
Okrainetz explained AHS owns the Dr. Cooke and LCC, and AHS previously contracted SHA to run them.
“Staff always followed AHS contracts and collective agreements, which would have been different for SHA guidelines and collective agreements,” noted Lori Sparrow, senior operating officer, community and seniors health, central zone AHS.
“AHS and SHA came to a mutual understanding it was time AHS ran the facilities because SHA had to do dual reporting. They had to report to Saskatchewan and Alberta,” added Okrainetz.
“They also had to do dual audits because we owned the buildings and we were accountable for them.”
Leonard Wegner, director of continuing care in the Lloydminster region with SHA, said that meant they had two separate payroll systems.
“We had to have two sets of staff to deal with pensions etc. because they were different,” he said.
Both facilities had also been following the Alberta Continuing Care Health Service Standards and the authority of AHS.
The delivery of continuing care in Lloydminster is part of the Lloydminster Bi-Provincial Health Services Agreement between AHS and SHA, which has been in place since 2014.
Continued collaboration between SHA and AHS will continue under the agreement regarding operations of other healthcare services in the Border City.
Brown initially feared the change in administration countered an original 2014 MOU between the two health services, which stated the most efficient way to manage health in Lloydminster is as one entity.
“A new MOU (signed last July) doesn’t say that specifically, but it does talk about the Lloydminster catchment area,” conceded Brown.
Wegner noted under the MOU, Saskatchewan has always been responsible for system flow.
“That’s the placement of residents in LTC (long term care) and that’s still continuing,” he said.
