All outstanding health service standards noncompliances at Points West Living in Cold Lake have been rectified.
The Alberta Health standards and licensing web page had reported 37 noncompliances after a July audit, and reported the same standards noncompliant on November 7. The website now shows all were rectified as of December 5.
Dana Burr, director of operations for Points West’s parent company Connecting Care, said the company sent evidence of compliance to the Continuing Care Licensing Office immediately after the fall audit, in accordance with Alberta Health procedures. The auditors are satisfied the concerns have been addressed.
Burr said many of the noncompliances were administrative, and did not reflect on the quality of care at the facility.
She added that the auditor did not have time to complete her audit on site, so anything not reviewed was reported as noncompliant until the company followed up with supporting documents.
“They weren’t able to look at more of our documentation before they left, so anything that they weren’t able to look at comes down as a noncompliance. That is where the higher number was,” Burr said.
(Respect reached out to the Alberta health ministry to confirm this practice, but did not receive a reply.)
Any immediate concerns are addressed right away, Burr said. “The other noncompliances are solely around charting. That doesn’t mean it’s not being done, it means they’ve seen inconsistencies.”
The company is then given a timeline to provide supporting documents before the noncompliances are considered rectified.
“If it was something that was an immediate concern for residents, they would have given us a tight timeline, because it’s something based on care,” Burr said. “It’s the administrative items that they give you that length of time to resolve.”
Burr said she is satisfied with that the company is delivering an appropriate level of care to residents.
“We actually have feedback from the auditor, based on our evidence, that they’re going to share with other communities as an example of how to forward that evidence,” she said.
Marlene Morin, Connecting Care’s chief operating officer, says company standards exceed the mandatory standards regulated by Alberta Health.
“Our goal is not to hit the minimum,” Morin said. “Our goal is to surpass.
“I think what we have that other communities don’t have, whether they’re run by Alberta Health or some other provider, is that we really try to treat our residents as people in their own home,” she said.
“We want to make sure that they feel like they’re not in an institution—because I’ve worked in those places, and they’re not great.”
Although she now works at the company’s head office in Edmonton, Morin has worked at Points West Living in Cold Lake.
“I was in Cold Lake for two months in 2020, and you know it just starts to feel like a family,” she said.
The July and November audits were conducted on Points West’s Continuing Care Type B residence in Cold Lake. Two outstanding noncompliances still show up on the government’s website for the company’s Supportive Living residence.
Burr said those have been addressed as well.
