NDP calls for investigation into Extendicare finances

Saskatchewan’s NDP thinks the financials for the Extendicare company should be included in the promised investigation into the Parkside Extendicare COVID-19 outbreak.

The outbreak at Parkside included around 200 cases and has resulted in dozens of deaths. Last week, the provincial government committed to having the provincial ombudsman investigate the outbreak.

Extendicare, the company which owns for-profit long-term care homes across the country, paid out dividends to shareholders in December and will for January as well, according to releases from the company.

The NDP believes the company’s ability to pay out dividends shows it’s putting profits before the care of its residents.

“Instead of investing in health care and in the health of its residents, Extendicare is lining the pockets of its investors and shareholders through paying out of dividends,” Matt Love, the Saskatchewan NDP’s seniors critic, said Friday.

Love said the Extendicare company has received millions in wage subsidies from the federal government.

“Over and over again we’ve seen Extendicare request for public investment, taxpayer dollars to be used for improvements to their facilities,” Love said.

“They’ve asked for a new facility to be built on the public dime, and I think that is highly questionable why we would continue to invest millions of dollars that will simply be used to increase the dividends paid out to their shareholders.”

980 CJME has reached out to Extendicare for comment.

Problems at Parkside Extendicare could have contributed to the outbreak. Love pointed to short staffing, ventilation and infrastructure problems, and overcrowding residents in four-bed rooms.

“For years the Sask. Party has known about problems at Extendicare and they’ve done absolutely nothing to fix it,” said Love.

“These are not up to standard, the government knew about this, and it seems to be a bit of a passing it off, saying, ‘This should be Extendicare,’ Extendicare said, ‘This should be the health authority,’ and that ambiguity led to nothing being done.”

The 2019 CEO Tour report for long-term care homes in Saskatchewan did mention such things.

“The facility is old and in need of replacement due to pending infrastructure and large system (HVAC) failures. The current design with a large number of 4-bed rooms does not meet current standards of care or resident and family expectations for a home environment,” read the report.

As of the writing of that report, there were 34 four-bed rooms in the home.