Oh my. I hope this isn't what I have to look forward to. I hope that I don't have to ever be in any of those placesa and that if I do, my kids will care for me when I'm old.

What a nightmare. I couldn't imagine my grandma living in a place like that.

well, what can be said about this.
..very disturbing..

Shocking, how anybody can support these changes is beyond me. I guess seniors and the sick dont matter much in the golden decade. If your healthy and rich come to BC, if your old or sick we have a plan for you to.

And this is only the beginning...

I'm glad this situation is being reported and available for everyone to read. The more these horrible incidents are reported, the less the companies can hide. Thanks Russ and Tyee.

Good luck finding any news of this in any CanWest publication. After reading many posts on the Tyee, I can't help but be very disturbed by the partisan machine that is CanWest. The fact they are in the pockets of the governing provincial government is almost George Orwell-esque.

I would like to see the health and safety reports pre-privatization. That way we can accurately gauge the real difference between now and then. Assuming no problems happened during HEU control would be unrealistic. Also what if these were only short term problems and in the end there was better care provided at a better price. Would privatization still be bad?

In fact the wages were not above market. They were right on the average of the market in North America for similarly trained people doing similar work.

And, though there's little chance the shrunken Auditor General would be able to afford a look, it's been reported by several sources that the contractors are being paid more or less the same amount of money the trained and stable workers were paid.

Apparently they pay the poorly trained people they hire about two bucks above what McDonalds pays and just keep the rest for them selves.

The same articles suggest that the contractors or their organisation(I won't call it a union) made rather hefty political contributions to the Liberals who betrayed the trust of our elders by selling them off to live in the stench of their own body fluids like that.

hey you commie bast&rds quite yur bellyachin' already!!!
that tax money which could've been spent to take proper care of our beloved seniors is going to a better place, a more noble pursuit, a golden place in the sun if you will.
Thats right!!!- its going to build a billion dollar highway sos that rich folks can get up to orgies in whistler and the desperately needed RAV line. after all, how are the luggage laden rich folk planning on orgie outings in whistler spozed to get downtown if not for crammin onto to a mass transit tube with all their luggage and the unwashed masses?
senior, smeeniors ... its obviously money well spent.

Didn't some big global corporations step forward to supply cheaper workers to replace H.E.U. workforce? Sodexho and Aramark?

The best way to solve the problem of these bad inspection reports is to lay off the inspectors and deregulate the business to let market forces determine the level of care. Don't worry the mainstream press won't make it an issue.

I am being sarcastic but unfortunately this is the neo-con solution and it is used way too often. It is already being used in food inspection and the environment.

Ahhh, the joys of privatization. Whether it be multinational water corporations confiscating poor South African's homes for unpaid water bills, or companies in charge of running inner city schools in the US trying to get the kids to do it's adminstration work to save money, handing over what should be non profit activities to for profit companies never is in anyone's interest except politicians and company owners.

Not just the seniors homes..the quality of cleaning at the major hospitals has been pathetic...workers just dont bother to show for shifts...they dont get replaced.so the work isnt covered..and the turnover has been very very high causing instabilty of service. Ah the things Canwest will never report on...and viha ( which is liberals under a diff name ) just continue to degrade service. Wheres the benefit to BC? The transnational companies increase the fat profit line and we get more underpaid workers trying to afford to make a living.( plus poor service ) That staggering $10 wage should help out in trying to buy a 300,000 home to live in. Way to go Liberals...idiots.

Wait til the full force of assisted living kicks in, and anyone who can house a senior in a closet will suddenly become a golden decade entrepreneur. Assisted living has been marketed as independence for seniors. It's just another sham. It is really more about making a business out of senior citizens, a profit-making venture with little monitoring, instead of providing them with well-deserved care and a dignified and safe living environment.

Those of us who are not seniors, must stand by them and speak out. This issue gets so little media attention, so thanks Russ Francis and the Tyee. The Tyee deserves commendation for their articles in this regard that have helped to keep this issue alive. I know a number of elderly peole who would thank you if they could.

Since CanWorst Gliberal won't print this, most people won't get to hear the truth about life under Gordon Campbell. Lets make sure we give our MLA's hell about this. Pressure does work: Santori quit because of the flak he took everywhere he went. And deservedly so. I suspect there are more than a few other Liberal MLA's who've had just about enough. The cracks are starting to show, lets keep up the pressure, and see how many more buckle.

i have a new goal in life. to be a minimum wage care giver in the facility gordo and his repulsive brother michael spend their golden years. every night i dream of putting them to bed in urine soaked sheets and maybe dropping a little feces into their bran flakes in the morning. as rev king said, i have a dream.

and the grand experiment continues on our elderly im repulsed when i hear statements such as the wages were too high, well it seems even with an army of cheap staff and horrible living conditions the managers of these places still can't get it right, not enough food medicines laundry!!! my god!!! the basics people the basics!
imagine youve survivrd ww2 only to end up in the new golden era of the bc libs
to every m.l.a. who stands and supported these changes at the expense of the frail& the elderly
im not sure if you how to feel shame any more, welcome to the old days of 35 years ago this is what extened care facilities were like, until government moved in and set standards for such places, let the profits roll in for these company's they're going to resue us all from those horrible union people and to the other poster who suggested we see safety reports pre-privatization? lets do that and see how far we've raced to the bottom

And, in a sense, none of this is even new. I believe that Geraldo Rivera, back in the days when he was a real reporter, and not a hopeless shill, jump started his career by detailing the concentration camp-like (this is only BARELY an exxageration )horrors at a private sanitarium in New York. Decades later, the BC liars, in their endless race to the bottom, want to return to such atrocities for the benefit of their friends and owners.>

Surrey Memorial hospital represents a similar downward spiral in healthcare and government responsibility and accountability. Once again, the Vancouver Sun shockingly tried to use huge block-letter headlines to lie about the liberals and healthcare, not more than two days ago: "BC LIBERALS FIX SURREY HEALTH CARE PROBLEMS," the one and a half inch headlines blared. No mention of them causing the one death and numerous caesarian infection cases at Surrey Memorial in the first place. This is of course directly akin to the infamous December 7, 2004 two-inch headlines blaring "BC's Unemployment Rate Lowest Since 1981!" Well only if you stop counting all those who have given up looking for work as the BC liars deliberately did, and the whole headline was a ploy to destract from the fact that the liars lost 22,600 fulltime jobs in BC in 2004 alone.

As Francis reports the Salvation Army's Sunset Lodge has one of the worst records going, and the Sally Ann has also helped the BC liars attack unions. I urge people to remember this next holiday season and give their money to the foodbank instead...

JIm asks a question above. Yesterday 3:15 pm. It needs an answer.

He asks "Also what if these were only short term problems and in the end there was better care provided at a better price. Would privatization still be bad?"

The answer is resoundingly YES. It would still be bad, It would still be terrible. As you pointed out many times, they're in it to make money. Lots and lots of lovely money. No one can distract them from that holy quest. If they could get you to line up, respectfully shuffle in, empty your pockets and kiss their rings that's what you would be doing.

They get paid a certain amount. They want to keep it all for themselves. Hmmm...lets see... If we feed the seniors floor sweepings, we can keep that money. If we hire chimps to tend them we can keep that money. Laundry? Don't be silly, soap costs money. Money that could be ours. If they die and we don't tell anyone, the payers will keep on paying. That money's all for us.

JIm I don't for one second buy the idea that you don't see this. It goes on everyplace the money comes loose. It's particularly nasty in the States, where they have whole philosophical theories about it.

You really want to pretend that something good will come of it? You've been told that there is no saving, do you not hear that part? The contractors get it all already, not less than before. The same amount we paid the trained and stable workers, who answered to the Ministry directly. They keep every cent they can.

The government brags about spending more and more. The people on the ground keep telling you we're getting less and less.

Please answer this question How exactly does a corridor come to reek of urine? In a public building? With staff? Please be as detailed as possible in your answer.

Bravo, Bailey. Great post. And hombre, thanks for telling us about that Vancouver Sun headline, I didn't see it. Even the choice of the words "BC Liberal" rather than "government" shows unbelievable political bias. An advertising agency could not have done better. Yeah, the BC Liberals "fixed" Surrey Health Care Problems alright and fixed them good. They'll never be the same again. Just ask the patients who have to go the emergency ward there.

An interesting coincidence, perhaps, but Kardel head Karl Egner was part of the Doug Walls-led group that developed MCFD plans to devolve governance of the community living services he provides on contract to Ministry clients with developmental disabilities. Key themes in their proposed devolution plans were reforms to reduce "red tape" governing the provision of such services in a shift from prescriptive requirements towards "relationships based on trust" and performance-based management.

In 2003, Kardel was one of the first agencies to receive funding from a special $20 million "community living restructuring fund" set up by MCFD at the Victoria Foundation and administered by others in the Walls clique. The $20,000 grant was awarded before the availability of the fund, application procedures or granting guidelines were made generally available to the broader community.

The legislation to establish the new governance model--an arm's-length provincial corporation called Community Living BC (CLBC)--was passed in great haste, with virtually no consultation, in the first few days of the 2004 Fall Sitting of the Legislature. Most of the key promises that initially garnered family support were gone and the legislation contained no guarantees of minimum standards in terms of residential care and other services to be provided to individuals with developmental disabilities by contracted operators such as Kardel.

In the context of massive budget cuts, rising costs and ever-growing waitlists, MCFD also forced operators to sign new contracts in January 2004 that required them to serve more clients with less funding. Solutions include measures that former Minister Christy Clark euphemistically called a new round of "deinstitutionalization"--i.e. moving individuals from group homes into cheaper individual foster care arrangements, where it will be harder than ever to monitor standards of care. Expect to hear more of this in the future.

My mom is 98 lives in Sidney can't get into a care home. If she does will have to go into Victoria away from her longtime friends in Sidney. I am 74 so I don't know what the govt. expects of us..

This is totally a bunch of crap from the NDP and their communist union friends. The liberals are moving this province forward and as far as the bashers, whinners and the union socialists are concerned your days are numbered in this province.

Well, thanks for those two sentences. Did you notice that you called a couple hundred thousand people communists in the first one, and then called the same people socialists in the next. I think maybe you haven't actually given this too much deep thought. Or do you have some new economic theory in which somebody can be both?

Let's see if we can clear up some points.

-If all union people are communists, where are they hiding their communes?

-Which direction is forward? Point to it so we can all see.

-What the heck is a whinner?

As an act of public service, how about everybody who has taken the time to read and respond to this article go out and make sure the seniors in the local facilities are registered to vote and on election day, help to get them to their polling stations. Come on Mike C. do your bit! If you believe what you have written, then the senior citizens affected should be more than willing to vote the liberals back in.

Mike C, I do hope that was your idea of a joke. What kind of person would even suggest that treating our elderly and disabled like this is "moving this province forward"?...Forward to what horrors?

If caring about these things makes someone an NDP-communist-basher-whinner-union-socialist, well bless their little commie souls! Abuses in residential care are nothing new. They will always happen, to the extent that we either don't know or don't care about them, especially when those in charge think--like Mike C--that dollars are more important than human welfare.

First of all, the Libs need to get some things right. Regarding market 'wages'. Somehow they just haven't convinced the average worker that they are receiving a fair wage. Perhaps a hypnotist would be a good investment. Or, hire their children to do the job instead. $10.00hr means something to a 13 year old. This just may work - looking after Grandma and Grandpa may earn one respect!! Or, they could increase drug costs to seniors even more. If they can't afford them, well they just may not be around as long. That would be much cheaper.

There is no use replying to Jim, as his type can't relate to anything but the bottom line, but I did give him a few good pointers above. Take this to the next meeting on me.

Mike C, ever hear of the McCarthy era in the United States, during the fifties? You know, the WITCH HUNT on decent people that your idiotic reactionary philosophy led to? Why, because all those honest and decent human beings, award winning actors, and humanitarian individuals were "commies and pinkos." You REEK of ignorance, and are the poorest, lamest, saddest pathetic excuse for a human being I've seen for awhile. I suggest therapy with lots of rest. I hope for your sake, the therapy's not at a privatized institution, where you can learn FIRSTHAND all about the wisdom of the marketplace, as you're tied to a bed frame with restraints for a week and forcefed mindnumbing medication and stong laxitives...perhaps the experience could teach even a waste of space such as yourself some humanity...at least you wouldn't be so chock full of you know what.

Thanks, lynn. Always enjoy your comments as well. And I agree, great comments from Bailey who just keeps getting better...

In regard to "name's" excellent comments it is also highly telling that the reforms Christy clark rubberstamped were met by large protests by disabled people, including developmentally disabled people.

billy pilgrim, I'd like to add Mike C. to that ward you dream of working on, if you don't mind.

At least they're getting unannounced inspections and a chance to catch problems.

At VIHA hospitals (where cleaning staff and others are now contracted out to lowest-bidder foreign companies with minimum-wage, untrained staff un-represented by the IWA fraudsters) they get several months notice of any inspection, so of course inspectors always find that it's "good". No mention at all of the interim status that has every nurse I know (several, my partner is a nurse) screaming bloody blue murder at the mess. Examples such as cleaning staff using the same cloth to clean a commode and the walls in a room with norwalk infected patients are rampant, as is the (currently totally unreported) increase in MRSA, Norwalk and Norovirus outbreaks, or anything else.

Lies, lies, more lies and the Campbell government.

lynn, 2/25/2005 1:10:24 PM, writes: "And this is only the beginning..."

Which bears repeating.

And, in response to the whining hysteria of our Neocon goofs here, actually, if the recent statements I've been reading and hearing coming out of the NDP of recent are true, that, to paraphrase, much of the deep changes made by the Neocon Libs are going to be irreversible, at least for a very long time, then even they are not so much your enemies as you would make out, and have us believe. And, for the rest of us, should be the realization, that we are still early into this historical period, with no serious movement of people in sight yet, with the ideology or the political cajones/vagina to turn this all around, let alone open up a more socially progressive future.

Again, unless there has been a turn around "within" the rank and file, and higher echalons of the NDP that I haven't seen or heard of yet, there is more fundamental agreement between the parties within BC, as to the merits of the "market forces" capitalism road than disagreement. Mostly, it appears to me, to be more a difference on issues of style than substance. Perhaps an unpalatable conclusion for some on the left, but still awaiting the definitive proof of walking the walk to demonstrate that it is a wrong conclusion.

So, you see, you Neocons have largely created a straw bogey man, that only really frightens yourselves, if even really that. In reality it remains pegged to the ground out there in the field, it's arms and legs flapping about harmlessly, with its straw head and button eyes bobbing, as if in assent, in whatever prevailing breeze that blows. Even the crows have become accustomed to it, and roost and squabble on its outstretched arms.

A real opposing and leading force, that will seriously frighten you twits poopless and open up the possibilities of the future, still awaits the contractual signs of impending life coming from the great societal womb. :-) Though it be heavy with the signs.

Have a nice day.

Where is the proof that things are worse under privatization? A union member complaining is not proof. Showing stats without comparing them to previous stats is not proof. I would like some solid proof instead of rhetoric. I know that is a lot to ask. Maybe at one place it's worse, but at others it's better. If your case is so convincing why are you shying away from comparative stats?

I'm not sure how a place comes to reek like urine, but the question is, is that the first time a place like this has ever reeked like urine?

Bailey would you rather have worse care done publicly than better care done privately?

"Bailey would you rather have worse care done publicly than better care done privately?" writes Neocon Jim.

A classic Neocon strategy in the clash of ideas; set up another straw man, then knock it down.

Even if one accepts the premise of never-ending "private market supremacy", which I certainly do not, the superior health care system we "had", was a public creation, that grew out of, in fact, a "regulated" capitalist system that, at the time, was moving towards "a kind of" socialism. The declining one we "have" is a logical consequence of the religious belief in the primacy of "The Market" and its profit driven forces.

Whatever else one may argue about the merit or lack thereof, of market economics, its preoccupation with the pursuit of private "self-engrandizing" profit as its pivotal driving dynamic does not well serve the social/welfare goals of a broad "public" interest.

It serves the wealthy well enough, even did in the earliest days of the Industrial Revolution, but as Neocon-Liberal economic policy is "again" serving to demonstrate in current practice, it does not so the poor or the broader working-class majority interest. What it leads to, in fact is, the historical past of a two tier health care system; one for the wealthy who can afford it, and an impoverished public/charity supported one for the lower classes.

Your strawman has simply evaporated into another Neocon fantasy, and your baseless fascist belief in an all powerful God of The Marketplace, and its jungle law of the Survival of the Fittest. This latter element which works alright as a theory of overall/general species evolution across millions of years, but not as a premise for real living communities of real people, in a particular time and place. It is more a demonstration of your own self-serving and mechanistic fascist thinking.

Back to the drawing board, goof. At least create another straw man that is more real life-like and less obvious.

Look, JIm, I don't want you to think I don't understand your position. I've been working in this field for a decade or more. I understand perfectly that a competitive paradigm produces the minimum quality widget for the minimum cost. Then the difference between cost and price is called profit. Great.

Trouble is my aged auntie is not a widget. Minimum quality is horrible. The only thing that saves the inmates, excuse me, clients of these for profit places from even worse care is the fact that some of them have families who visit and inspect, and might even be owed a favor by some MP or MLA someplace.

The same money is paid out to private places as community living societies. The difference is that in the case of ACLs all of it is spent on care. High quality staff, lots of excellent programs, nice furniture, good food. In private for profit places about half of the money goes into other peoples pockets. The staff is under constant pressure to deny the clients any little amenity if it might cost a buck. One bath a week, little help with eating, dressing or activities of daily living.

Nice folding chairs in the hallways though,to sit in all day long, and always a big screen TV to sleep in front of instead of going on an outing. Last time I checked about 15-20 minutes of actual care a day.

You ask if I'd rather have good care from the people who do it worst or bad care from the people who do it best. Frankly after reading your posts what I'd really rather have is a beer. You tire me, sir.

You pretend you don't see but really you just refuse to believe. Your convictions are not based in reason or evidence, but faith. You say things that are just silly, against all sense and testimony of the people who work on the actual ground. However often you chant your mantra about the universal godlike perfection of the profit motive, it will not change the realities. The dynamics of the situation are built into it.

Profit will never produce decent care for the helpless. It pulls resources in the completely opposite direction. Away from care.

"Profit will never produce decent care for the helpless. It pulls resources in the completely opposite direction. Away from care." wrote Bailey.

In an outstanding piece. I agree with those who says that Bailey is only getting better and better.

"The dynamics of the situation are built into it.", being what folks really do have to get, and will, the easy way by using their brain power, or the hard way, from real living life experience. The latter being the way it is going to here; a cruel teacher very often, but effective in the end.

I am utterly fu*king disgusted with this story and some of the ensuing comments. Caring for helpless people in society costs money. Why do some of us dispute this?

There are studies in the United States, the horrid laboratory from which we steal many neo-con experiments, that suggest care delivered by non-profit nursing homes is better than that delivered by for-profit nursing homes. In fact one study in particular, Does Investor Ownership of Nursing Homes Compromise the Quality of Care?, specifically proves this to be true.

In this study, researchers from Harvard University and the University of California - San Francisco examined government inspection records for 13,693 nursing homes that receive Medicare or Medicaid payments - nearly all of the homes in the US. They found that government inspectors cited for-profit nursing homes for deficiencies about 46 % more frequently than non-profit nursing homes and 43 % more frequently than public or government-run nursing homes.

And soon the JIms among us will have incontrovertible BC-specific proof that for-profit senior care is worse than non-profit senior care in Canada, too. UBC's Centre for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR) is conducting its own study on precisely this topic - Outcomes in long-term care: Does type of ownership matter? It will use data from the BC Linked Health Database to compare mortality rates, acute care admission rates and physician visits for selected diagnoses of interest among British Columbia residents of for-profit and non-profit nursing homes.

I can't believe that in Canada in 2005 we're subjecting one of society's most vulnerable groups to despicable, inhumane treatment while we sit and niggle over nickles and dimes - think I'll call my mom up and tell her I love her.

Rob out ...

You may be correct, all I’m asking for is some PROOF. So far I have yet to hear any real proof, I hear ideological rants. I don’t mind if you prove me wrong on this issue , but use VERIFIABLE information. Or should I just take your word for it. I find it hard to believe the people on the ground when they are simultaneously running campaigns to boot this government from power. Do you suggest that they’re a unbiased view with no vested interest in demonizing this government so they can go back to a union run province again?

When I hear stories like this it brings me back to the infection uproar at Surrey Memorial. Once the EVIDENCE came in, it was proved the infection story was a bunch of media hype perpetuated by people with vested interests in dethroning the government. Maybe it’s me but I give more value to verifiable information than hearsay.

If I’m a neocon that would make you guys communists.

JIm, what, in your view, constitutes "proof"? Rob just posted a link to some very convincing evidence that "investor ownership of nursing homes compromises care."

JIm, what, in your view, constitutes "proof"? Rob just posted a link to some very convincing evidence that "investor ownership of nursing homes compromises care."

Dear JIm, May I ask you how old you are?

If I knew that I could give you an estimate of how long you'll have to wait for PROOF.

Perhaps this is what Gordon Campbell was refering to as the "golden" decade, urine stained sheets.

"Do you suggest that they’re a unbiased view with no vested interest in demonizing this government so they can go back to a union run province again?"

At the same time, this guy does not have a problem buying into the claims of a right wing governments purported "objectivity" when it comes to "its" partisan claims. The world is a partisan place, fella. It's up to you to sort through the evidence and the claims, and draw a conclusion, which you obviously have.

Rather than side with the evidence of ordinary folks, which includes union organized working people, and much academic and other evidence coming out of health providers themselves and health education institutions like UBC, you have "chosen" to buy into the evidence of "partisan" business elites and their "partisan" political hacks.

'fess up, you've already made your Neocon mind up, that's your story and you're sticking to it, and you are not going to be persuaded by any amount of logic or objectivity coming out of any other quarters. Were it otherwise, you would be addressing the material which Rob has provided you here, in an act more generous than I would have certainly bothered, for somebody as evidently as big a fool as yourself.

Speaking strictly for myself, and not the other good folks here, whom I suspect are a pretty mixed bag actually, I am a "kind of" independant communist, to my own definition and understanding of same. Now c'mon and 'fess up yourself Jim, what is only already as obvious as the nose on your face anyway. At least it will give you the appearance of some modicum of honesty here. Otherwise you have become merely pathetic, and should, to save your own foolish face, withdraw out of here. (Though I'd prefer such an easy target actually hang around, to continue making the rest of us look good.)

Oops! There's the supper bell. Gotta stay strong, to keep fighting these loonie Neocons. :-)

More great pieces by Coyote and Rob,Q. I would like to address one issue and that is the marketing of assisted living by the present government. It is promoted as independence for seniors, when it is really a strategy to attack and dismantle not-for-profit quality senior care and bring in privatization. Who would argue with the idea of everyone remaining as independent as possible for as long as possible? Who wouldn't want this for themselves and those they love? Sometimes, however there is no choice. Life becomes more complex without us being aware of it, taking us by surprise.

The present government is focusing on independence, a concept most people won't dispute, in order to bring in privatization through assisted living. Most people live independently for as long as they can. The question is what happens to those who can no longer live independently? What happens to those in need of much more care and monitoring than assisted living can provide?

This is what happened in our family's case and I know of many similar stories: My parents lived independently in their own home into their eighties, a good life. But then my dad began suffering deteriorating memory loss. He could no longer drive his car, he would often not sleep at night and would wander about. He couldn't remember if he had eaten his meals or not, if he had taken his medication and sometimes my mom would find him making waffles at three in the morning! but having forgotten to turn the stove off afterwards. He was blissfully full of blueberry waffles but my mom was very tired from having to keep an eye on him all night and the house safe from fire.

Consequently, there I was in my early forties with my own family to take care of, almost living at my parents home because I was so worried about both of them. After a few years of almost a twenty-four hour watch and care of my dad, my mom, frail herself, was being worn down, and I was very tired, too. But we still tried to keep my dad able to live at home. If we were wealthy enough, we could have hired a twenty-four hour nurse but most people including us, are not.

I drove home from their house, many a night, along our little winding coastal highway at four in the morning, the windows rolled down to keep me awake and singing along with the Stones so I would not fall asleep. Not safe driving I admit, I should have been arrested for my singing alone. Though I was lucky to have a good man waiting at home for me who kept a candle still burning in the window, so to speak.

There are lots of people out there with similar stories. Eventually, the caregivers give in or fall apart because twenty-four hour care is very difficult without help, especially since home support has also been cut to bare bones by this government.

Anyway, if anyone is still reading this, what I am trying to say, is that when senior care is needed, let it be there. Let it be first class quality care, kind, dignified, safe, and of utmost importance... monitored constantly. Accountable. Let it be publically funded, so that the profits are human ones centered on creating compassionate returns rather than mere monetary ones.

My mum was smart; she never gave up her Maltese citizenship and in another year or so will be retired (with my dad) in Europe (where they will both be covered by healthcare), soaking up rays in St Julian's Bay. I was amazed when she told me recently about the excellent care there- and the fact that my dad, a Cdn citizen, will be covered too.

Lynn, the exact same thing is happening in community living care for developmentally disabled adults and in residential care for youth in care. They use language like "de-institutionalization" and "independence" to cut the hopelessly inadequate services that do exist--when it's all just about saving money to pay for tax cuts.

And all those people who hurry to go out and spend their tax cuts close their eyes and ears and pretend to believe it because it's far more comfortable and convenient than facing the ugly truth.

During the early fifties my mother( a practical nurse) worked in some of the private care homes in Vancouver that were located in the better part of Vancouver( 25th and Granville) and used to come home with horror stories about the care that given at some homes. At this time the health inspectors used to announce their visits and the homes were cleaned up for the visit. Now it seems like we are going back to the good old days. All I would like is for Gordon Campbell to go stay in one of these so called good private nursing homes for a couple of weeks and even work as a janitor( I do not want to slight the janitor because they do try their best) because he would not qualify as a nursing helper

yes we know if a private contractor can deliver the same service as a public operation campbell will privatize it.its the americian way,who gives a rats ass what it looks like in the end,campbell just shuffles the blame to a health authority or a private contractor and assumes no responsibility.plead the 5th ammendment campbell

Why aren't the major newspapers carrying this story?

"Anyway, if anyone is still reading this..." wrote Lynn, in a moment of self-doubt perhaps.

You underestimate your writing and analytical skills, good woman. This was a fine piece, that captured the essence of the problem in a very real and graphic way. I actually saw you driving the coastal highway, with the window down, singing, ohhh, perhaps, You Can't Always Get What You Want, or some such. :-)

Margo, the major newspapers are not carrying this story because this province is already involved in an election campaign.

If I stop and reflect for a minute, my opening statement seems bizarre for a liberal democracy.
Unfortunately, this is not a liberal democracy and corporate media have already shifted into get-re-elected mode.

Not content to merely allow the spread of democratic ideals, once again we see a certain view of democracy being foisted upon the reading, listening audiences, lest someone forget how life was before the resurrection of unfettered capitalism in BC.

Many are the times on this site have I praised the relatively unbiased approach to news that the Globe&Mail has offered British Columbians over the past four years.
In comparison to the distortions readers are fed by Canwest newspapers and the equally
frightening ignorance that passes for news and editorial thought in David Black's chain of flyer holders, the Globe has gained an aura of moderation and balance.

It's the same aura, I supposed a battered woman might speak of if she managed to find a new
partner who didn't come home drunk and aggressive EVERY night.

Everything's relative.

I say this because today's Globe carries an ad that promises BC readers its team of Vancouver-based reporters will do no less than "help you understand why the sun ( the real sun rather than that dark media cloud that is losing circulation), is rising" in BC.

"British Columbia is on the rise," screams the headline. "The province is enjoying an economic renaissance and the Globe and Mail is there to document it," adds one of the Globe's promotional writers who then tells us to buy tomorrow's edition for Report on BC.

So, in summary, the journalists have donned their jestors' suits and locked away their
pesky objectivity for another cause.

Not to be outdone by the G&M's crack team of investigative reporters who work the west coast beat, it seems the Globe's editorial writers have jumped into the fray as well with an editorial supporting this government's plans to open provincial parks to all kinds of commercial projects.

While such an endorsement might seem odd given that the vast majority of British Columbians have indicated strongely they oppose such crass attacks on what are supposed to be safe havens from the destruction of "progress", they take on an even more sinister view in light of this government's promise during the 2001 election it would never do such a thing.

Please excuse my cynical nature. I anticipate, but I don't eagerly await the supporting opinions
by such columnists as our own resident right-wing ranter Norman Spector, who no doubt, will enlighten us on the positive economic ripple effect of selling our assets at a loss.

Margo, my question is: why would a major newspaper carry such bullshit and risk alienating many of its readers?

The only answer I can think of is the Globe, like the Vancouver Sun, Province et/al would rather risk the loss of readers rather than the loss of a government it shares a common goal with.

Excellent comments above by Bailey, lynn, coyote, Rob Q, allan and others that tell real human stories, and furhter illuminate JIm's "comments" as the mean spirited ignorant drivel they are. And again, a reminder that the Vancouvetr Sun, used two-inch (or nearly two-inch) black type headlines to shout "BC Liberals Fix Surrey Memorial," with very little mention of the fact that the liberals were warned months before by both fired CEO Smith, and many resident doctors, that conditions at Surrey Memorial were deteriorating alarmingly. A new report, in today's online Victoria Times Colonist, documents well that island hospitals are facing a similar looming crisis...Now just imagine what the Abbottsford P-3 hospital, removed from all public scrutiny and accountability is going to be like if BCers are idiotic, selfish, and reactionary enough, like JIm, to reelect these cut throat backstabbers to another term of office. We don't need your two-tier BC...or your tainted tax cut.

I am asking for PROOF that things are WORSE now than before. Are you saying that there were no inspections before privatization? If there were inspections it should be fairly easy to gather this sort of comparative evidence and give a definitive answer. Or was there no accountability before and these sort of things went unreported? If your case is so convincing and the proof is right there compare this report to one done in the 90's. Why aren’t reports from earlier years included in this article? Maybe the previous reports don't fit in with the writers ideological preference so he decided to omit them. Maybe previous reports showed that even HEU members had less than perfect records. I guess these questions don’t matter when you can fall back on personal attacks and ideological rants then give each other high fives for a job well done. Why is someone that is not a union less capable of doing the same job as someone in a union?

Mary McDougal states "We're confident that we are very close to getting that reputation back" I for one don't have confidence in that as the support services were contracted out in 2002, so it has been over 2 years. When will they relize that paying employees 9.25 per hour will NOT attract dedicated workers to work in Long Term Care. Ms. Mc Dougal also talks about employees taking sick time as part of the problem. She fails to state that employees of Compass at Beacon Hill Villa don't get paid when thay are off sick and that the conditions they are forced to work in probably contributes to them falling ill.
Privatization does NOT work.

Bob Wilson

To Jim
The issue is not whether Union or not but paid a decent wage, decent working conditions etc...and able to speak out with out fear of retribution or termination. The workers at Beacon Hill Villa are HEU members but work under a cloud of intimidation and loss of their jobs at $9.25 per hour. Respect and fair wages and good working conditions go a long way in ensuring quality care.
NOTE: The RN's, LPN's and Care Aides were contracted out and are presently non union. The food and housekeeping employees are Union.

So the missing piece from reading this article is - what happened as a result of these inspections? Were they fined? Did they receive a notice that after "X" infractions they would lose their licence? Without some kind of consequence to make these places accountable there is no motivation (other than greed and pure lack of morales)to change this kind of behaviour.

jim, if you want proof, why don't you take a walk in your local hospital? Be prepared to dodge the dust bunnies and have your shoes stick to the floor.

This is when I hope parallel universes really exist. It's the only way to speed up history. Otherwise it is going to take at least a thousand years to get through to JIm. Let the neocons have their own universe, let them plunder it to the nth degree...poor, poor, universe, just leave ours alone. Don't meddle in ours, we won't meddle in yours. Grow old there, JIm, among friends who think just like you. You will have more proof than you will ever need.

I agree, Name, "independence" is a great catch phrase that this government has distorted in order to shirk all social responsibility in their endless quest to cut needed funding.

And Coyote, thanks for the kind words, loved your choice of song, a nice irony to it as well.

Ultimately the reason to contract out is to save money. There is no other. JIm wants proof that no one is worse off for care. Ever heard of 'you get what you pay for?' These places are now getting what they pay for JIm. They ain't paying for much either.

JIm, do you live your life making all decisions over money? Say your kid has a birthday and wants a bike. Do you run out and buy him a cheapie from Wal-Mart? Or do you consider safety features, quality or design? Do you make a regular stop at Made in China dollar stores? Does your wife get CZ jewellery?? Cheap car? Pleather shoes? Days old bread? You get what you pay for. You ask if union workers can do the same job as non-union workers any better. If the pay and benefits are the same, than no. If you undermine with low pay and no benefits, than yes.

At least think about life beyond money. Try.

Sharon I have walked into my local hospital, quite a few times lately, and it was spotless. So according to your standards of evidence I can now deduce that private cleaners are much better than union cleaners. Since I don’t need to compare the conditions now to previous conditions I can be confident that private cleaners are better.

Ch, do you buy the most expensive items all the time regardless if they work or not. When you buy a car do you offer 25% above sticker price? If you can get the same product for a better price, do you choose the product with the highest price even though it performs exactly the same as one that is 50% cheaper?

I'm beginning to suspect JIm and Norm Spector are one and the same. Both can delivered fairly well thought out arguments, yet neither seem quite capable of grasping the simplest of issues or concepts when they run counter to the world both want.

Poor Norm has got so wrapped up in the good research of SFU communications prof Don Gutstein, it seems he will soon issue a challenge to the prof to do a comparative analysis of numbers of and impact of typos in the Vancouver Sun's 1996 election coverage and in the 2001 coverage.

Spector is expected to argue the 1996 typos are to be blamed on Sun proof readers. He will then argue there were more typos in 2001 after all the proof readers were fired, but that it was a better (which means different), product because it cost less to edit, thereby proving that finding deliberate mistakes is a firing offence at the Sun.

JIm, who's questions would tag him as the Dumber of the two entertainers, walks blindly through the four-year-old train wreck called Liberal Policy, stubbornly insisting that all the bodies, the intentional smashing of public infrastructure and bankruptcy in government honesty are really just opportunities.

"Show me," they whine in unison.

"Take the blinders off first", I'd like to reply.

Lynn, to add to your comment about parallel universes: the reason that the neocons haven't moved to one of their own yet is that they need the rest of us (and our planet) to exploit in order to maintain their bloated lifestyles in the universe they want for themselves. They delude themselves that they do it all and the workers are just in the way of it being perfect.

Coyote, I agree with everything you say, only "vagina" is not the female equivalent of "cajones". The word you are after is "ovaries", or the Spanish equivalent.

Jim is just trying to get people riled..since he doesnt work in health care, doesnt see the atmosphere all the time..he cant really make an informed opinion....ignore his " rants " The quality of cleaning and food service has dropped drastically since the hammer handed switch of staff. You get what you pay for ..which in this case isnt much...cleaners who barely know what to do..most leave after a week or 2...and food service equivalent to that of a food court at a shopping mall. ** yes ..you cant get your surgery..but you can visit an in hospital Tim Hortons now ( owned by Wendys by the way...nothing Canadian about it )"Inspections " are a joke ...and all arrangements are hidden and sealed. ( remember when health care belonged to the citizens of the province ???) So lets see ..who benefits?? mmmmm Oh yeah ..couple of international companies with massive profit margains already....the " new " staff ??? not much of a future on $ 10/hr....try and support your family on that . All the previous workers you let go for no reason ?? ruined futures...less buying power to the province..years of experience gone...Smart move Campbell...funny how you consider Walmarting the province as a successful thing. Oh another thing...waiting lists ?? why do you pretend to care when you ( on purpose ) have wards sitting closed , and surgery units waiting empty ??...You purposely underfunded health care into a mess...and then wave the " we will save you with private clinics " flags....which is what you planned all along. Im in health care. I know from background and experience what Im talking about. Unlike some folks.

AJ, I've already proved that the cleaners are better, I saw it myself, the hospital was clean. IF THE PROOF IS SO CONCRETE WHY CAN'T YOU PROVE IT WITHOUT RESORTING TO IDEOLOGICAL RANTS? I’ll use a fact, health care funding has gone up by roughly 3 billion, yet waiting lists have increased dramatically. Hmmm, more money equals larger waiting lists. So does the solution in our health care woes lie in more funding or systematic changes? I guess that’s a stupid question on my part, the solution must be more money. Hopefully one day it can take up 80% of our provincial budget.

Anne, I couldn't agree with you more.

Who said anything about more money? I didn't hear anything about more money. Nobody is spending less, we're just spending it on massive payments to foreign contributors who take it away.

Hell, we probably spend more, since greed generally knows no bounds. The $10 cleaners cost us the same $20 we used to pay directly into our own families and communities.

When you were inspecting the local hotel, excuse me, hospital, did you look into the sterile rooms? Did you have your little Golden Book and Field Guide to the Bacteria of North America?.

God, talk about ideological rants!

Jim The big problem is the dirt you can't see with the naked eye ie body fluids. Also, with high staff turn over there is the added cost of constant training of new staff. Without the union in there to make that happen, in all likelyhood, many people are not appropriately trained. Generally, people give up on working in unsafe, unsanitary and unpredictable environments, as they fear they will bring home these invisible germs to their little ones or their aged parents that they may have at home. And many poeple that I have spoken to are sick of coming in to work day in and day out and having to work short staffed. You can only keep it up so long.

Know who puts the cost of health care up? It is the rich people who have friends in high places. Some are sitting in $1,000,000.00 homes and paying $25.00 a day for home care for up to 4 hours of help. They are having all of their worn out body parts replaced at $15,000.00 per joint.
My mother worked her ass off for 40 years as a nurse is now laying in a dirty cold hospital room waiting sometimes for her "Diabetic" meal for an hour past meal time. She would get up to tidy the room as I am sure as it is probably driving her crazy but she only has one leg. She puts herself on the bed pan because she knows that, once again they are working shirt staffed in all departments. Nurse are heading off for better opportunites or have quit because they can no longer perform their duties without comprimising their standards of care. Good thing my mother still has all of her marbles so she can direct the staff. I, myself am a nurse. I go to the hospital to see my mom every day to wash her, brush her teeth and tidy up her room. So, if you really think that the rooms are being kept clean by the house keeping, think again. Most of the time it is done by family and friends. Pretty bloody sad........

Are the above comments from the front lines enough proof for you, JIm? The employees in our health facilities were bullied in the same way. They were given 72 hours to sign the newly privatized contracts or lose their jobs.

This is "pretty bloody sad" as @@@#$$$ says above, also as big a news story as you can get but largely unreported on save for The Tyee and a few brave others. Pretty bloody pathetic and disturbing. Merna, thanks for your courageously honest post, as health care workers you must have felt totally abandoned in getting your story out by what was once called a free press.

By the way, inside Merna's post you will find all the devious machinations employed by health authorities throughout this province in an attempt to justify employee wage rollbacks. What a sham. The health authorities have become expensive hired hands, cunning mercenaries in the service, not of health, but of privatization.

hey " Jim " ...since you have no idea what acceptable standards are for " clean " inside a health facility..having you simply say " it looked clean " means little...and is hardly " proof " . And thanks for pointing out yet another flaw with Liberals and health care....yes ..spending has continued to rise and yet ...waiting lists continue...mmm sounds like the worst management in history...considering those lists didnt need to happen..They were created. ....If you want rants..consider that health care costs in this province are actually what they should be considering our aging population...the rant comes from liberal rant tanks like the Fraser Institute ,,meant to make people buy that there is a crisis and something has to change. ( pushed by Liberal slanted Canwest media )

It seems to me that JIm is just trying to bait us. Refuting him with logic does not work. He does, however, prompt people to devise counter arguments to the neocon propaganda, which is damn good practice for us all!

Anne, you're a kindly soul, I can tell. Even the nastiest of us at least can serve as a horrible example, eh?

But people are always saying that about JIm and his ilk. Just trying to bait us? He's practicing evil and spreading it. Caregivers howl at the predicted deaths of a quarter of the seniors his darlings turfed out of their homes and support systems, but JIm says they're just disgruntled commies whining at recieving their just deserts. Dead clients aren't PROOF, you see.

Just like dirty laundry isn't PROOF, even though before the Liberals you could send the infectious laundry to the basement, now you have to send it to Calgary. BC Commies can't be trusted, the laundry was just as shitty before, etc. etc. et frigging cetera.

People dead waiting in emergency rooms, not PROOF, increased post operative infection, not PROOF. Testimony of eyewitnesses, not PROOF

We know certain things about evil, though it 's unfashionable to talk about it these days. It tells lies. Check. It hates anything that affirms life, check. It seeks to spread misery and oppress others. check. It wants to destroy virtue and promote vice. check.

I'm sorry to speak so plainly, I know it sounds melodramatic, but cutting these behaviours any slack at all is simply too dangerous. See them for what they are, call them by their right name. He's not trying to bait you.

He hates you.

I do find that JIm and his type do hate their neighbors. They seem to think they were born on a pedestal and the sun always shines upon them.

You're right, no use arguing just vote them out as quickly as possible.

"...only "vagina" is not the female equivalent of "cajones". The word you are after is "ovaries", or the Spanish equivalent." chides Anne, more knowingly than I, a mere male. :-)

You are right, of course, and I will correct myself in future. Hmmm, I must look for the Spanish equivalent. Anyone know it off the top of their head?

Great posts you guys. And Bailey has it bang on again with, " He's not trying to bait you. He hates you."

And these Neocons do, make no mistake about it. And we should feel no shame or remorse hating them back. We stand diametrically opposed in our views of the world, and in our strategic economic and political interests. We are enemies. Which will bother some I know. And while I sympathize with that, me, I just accept the fact, and live and deal with it.

I am not a religious person. I accept not only the reality of love, but also hate, and its sometimes legitimacy as a response to people and the evil "some" of them do. Within which frame, for me, the Neocons fall.

Either that, or they will simply overwhelm you with "their" hate.

And that is not to advocate lightly going around and hating just anybody who disagrees with you. One does have to have "some" :-) sense of the limits of all things, conditions, emotions and responses.

The good woman and I made up some blackberry jam this morning, from some we froze last year. Mmmmmm! Scrumpdillyicious! I'm having a piece of toast with some of this jam on it right now, along with a cuppa tea. Were y'all here, I'd share it with ya's, of course. :-)

Ovaries and vagina. Hmmm Both sound too sterile for my profane sensibilities. We need a word for ovaries that has more heft, and yet doesn't upset women's more delicate sensibilities. :-) (Always a problem for we mere males.:-)

someone, please remind me to DIE before I have to rely on one of these hell-holes!!!

Bailey, thank you for perceiving me as a "kindly soul". I too believe there is evil out there and that hating back is legitimate. Have any of you read Tom Wayman's poem, "Hating Jews", in which he explains that hating whole ethnic groups makes no sense, but that hatred of oppressors is quite understandable. In the past year I have been criticized by a certain "lefter than thou" individual for labeling a local person who works for our Employment Centre "evil" because she deliberately humiliates her captive market of unemployed people (who are sent to her useless workshops as a condition of their receiving welfare or even E.I.) I was self-righteously told that "people are not evil" (just the unwitting dupes of capitalism) by this Ms. Lefter-than-thou who has "read many psychology books" (many more than I have, she presumes) and who has a degree, whereas I'm one year short of that. I had used the term "evil" for want of a better word for the revulsion that I felt toward the employment centre person, but I was evidently perceived as an ignorant redneck for doing so.

So, thanks, Bailey and Coyote, for telling it like it is (a skill that seems lost in this namby-pamby era of political correctness) and making me feel a little better when my own attitude shows a little female equivalent of cajones!

My point about Jim is, that he's obviously lost so many arguments here that I begin to wonder why he keeps trying, and I think, "Could it be that he's simply playing devil's advocate?" I mean, most people making comments on these articles are too intelligent to be taken in by Jim, and so many of you have refuted him so thoroughly that even those
who gave him credence at first must be having second thoughts.

"...and making me feel a little better when my own attitude shows a little female equivalent of cajones!" says Anne, with one of the finest compliments I could absolutely think to ever receive.

And you definitely have ovaries, good woman. :-)Our society definitely needing both more strong women with ovaries AND strong men with cajones right now. :-)

Geez, Coyote. I always love reading your stuff. But I have to say this- If we let their hatred inspire hatred in us, they win. It's seems to be what they want, to spread hate and poverty and misery. To make us look just like them.

Don't hate them. If you fill up with hate you won't be able to enjoy blackberry jam or the love of a good woman nearly so much as you do.

Instead, love them. Your heart will feel better, and it will drive the bastards absolutely crazy.

All this about whether vagina or ovaries are the equivalent of 'cojones' for the purposes of denoting that certain attitude of devil-may-care bravery? I don't think either one fits very well. Women don't use their genitalia that way, as men do.

I've noticed that when a woman feels confident and strong, and is acting that way, she generally squares up her shoulders and strides through the world leading with her chest.

Maybe the female equivalent of the expression 'balls of solid brass' ought to be 'shoulders of steel', or something in that vicinity.

Well humm..... I saw on the news just the other day in local Victoria in this very same care home
where a senior got very upset and violent so they say, that the police were called and they used a tazer<<<(how you spell that??) ya they tazered the poor guy.. it was on the NEW VI just the other night.....the plot thickens.........

To Anne, Coyote and P.S: Personally I like maracas as in "shake your maracas"...just kidding... but they are of Spanish- Mexican origin. They are full of seeds or pebbles, they're played in pairs, and best of all they're musical. So, a woman always has her own music to dance to.

To Anne, Coyote and P.S: Personally I like maracas as in "shake your maracas"...just kidding, haven't been near the tequila lately... but they are of Spanish- Mexican origin. They are full of seeds or pebbles, they're played in pairs, and best of all they're musical. So, a woman always has her own music to dance to.

Sorry, about the double post. Adios.

hey err.. feel stupid asking but how the hell dou you post working links on here?

Maracas. I like it. Let's try it out.

"Does she have the maracas for the job?"

"Did you see that? That took real maracas!"

Sounds pretty good.

Hi Nationalist - here's how you post working links in the Tyee's comment section

Use this html