Saskatoon sisters call for better oversight in care homes after neglect

Donna Fiddler and Colleen Lukan thought they had done their research well.

They thought they had found a good home that would take care of their elderly parents, but the sisters said they were wrong, and now they want to make it easier for other families to make a better decision.

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In 2023, the sisters put their parents, Erwin and Margaret Lukan, into a personal care home. They found a home in Saskatoon, and said they couldn’t find any complaints about it during their research. They toured the facilities and liked them, and found they could afford the cost.

“We trusted the system. This was a licensed care home under government supervision,” said Fiddler.

But their parents ended up staying there for less than three weeks.

The sisters declined to name the home, saying they were worried about legal reprisals.

They said their parents previously lived on a farm near Debden, and only moved to Saskatoon to be closer to their daughters and to get better care.

“My dad was so sad, leaving the farm and then coming to this. He was a hardworking man who deserved better,” said Fiddler.

After the sisters moved their parents into the home, they quickly discovered they weren’t getting the kind of care they had expected. After a week, they said they learned their parents weren’t being bathed.

Lukan went to the home to bathe them and found the shower chair was broken. While trying to find another, she found one that was covered in feces, along with the shower.

Adding to their concerns, Lukan said she saw a resident get hurt in the morning, and the injury wasn’t bandaged until the evening. They also found that medications were not locked away, and were often mixed up.

“I’ve seen so many things in the… weeks that I took care of my parents,” said Lukan.

The sisters said the worst part of the experience was the lack of catheter care.

Their father, Erwin, dealt with urinary tract infections, and often had to go to the hospital for treatment. When he went into the home he had a catheter, but the sisters eventually found out there was no one at the home who knew how to change it, empty the leg bag or check the hose.

When they complained, Lukan and Fiddler said they were told that the only person at the home who knew about catheter care was out of the province, and ended up being away the entire time their parents lived at the facility.

“How can you just go out of province for a personal matter and not dictate someone be in charge of something so important?” asked Fiddler.

In less than three weeks, their father’s catheter became infected. He ended up dying in hospital.

According to the Government of Saskatchewan’s care home inspection website, the home in Saskatoon hadn’t been inspected for at least a year and a half, though homes are supposed to be inspected annually. The home was inspected in July of 2021, and wasn’t inspected again until March of 2025.

Seniors Minister Lori Carr. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

Lori Carr, Saskatchewan’s minister responsible for seniors, said a home can be moved to an inspection every two years if it’s in good standing. However, the inspection in 2021 found eight infractions, including toilets, bathtubs and showers that were unsanitary and not operating properly. The inspection also found that safe infection control measures weren’t practiced, and not all medications were being administered according to a doctor’s orders.

Fiddler and Lukan said they didn’t find the inspection website before moving their parents into the home, and were only directed to it later by a friend. They said they want more transparency around inspections and complaints so other families won’t have the same experience.

The sisters also want more oversight in the system. They said that since their father’s death in 2023, they’ve tried to raise their complaints and frustrations with the provincial government, speaking to at least 14 different people up and down the chain of command.

“I sent emails, texts. We had Zoom meetings. We had phone calls. We had in-person meetings with government people paid to do this, and they just dismissed us and just said that our thoughts were unfounded,” explained Fiddler.

They said they eventually turned to the Saskatchewan NDP, which brought them to the Legislative Building in Regina last week to tell their story.

“There’s no accountability. There’s no one monitoring. The rules are being broken that are set up by the government,” said Fiddler.

Fiddler and Lukan said they met with Carr last week while they were at the legislature. Carr called it a very productive meeting, and said she will look into what happened.

“We have a standard in place when it comes to inspecting personal care homes, and we try to inspect them on an annual basis. If they’re in good standing it can do to a two-year cycle, and that is our goal,” said Carr.

She said investigations of the home have been undertaken in response to the sisters’ complaints, and the home was visited several times. However, Carr said, the results of those inspections didn’t get posted to the government’s website.

The minister agreed that full disclosure is always best.

“We just need to be respectful of the fact that these individuals built our province, and when we put them into long-term care facilities we should have the peace of mind to know that they’re being taken care of,” said Carr.

The minister pointed out that there is money in the recent provincial budget earmarked to hire more assessors and inspectors to ensure standards are being met at care homes.

“We know that that’s something that we want to keep on top of, and so that’s what we’ve done,” said Carr.

After their father died, Lukan and Fiddler said they took their mother out of the facility.

“I spent a lot of time looking all over Saskatoon,” Lukan said.

“We looked everywhere. We finally settled with something, but now we’re paying.”

“We love where mom is, and I wish dad would have had the opportunity to be at a good facility,” said Fiddler.