June 10, 2014 Letter to the Catholic Health Ministries and the Board of Directors at Santa Maria Senior Citizens Home Inc. ‘We have been employees at Santa Maria Senior Citizens Home Inc. for many years. Over the last couple ‘years, the strain of the management has caused us to write this letter to bring some issues to your attention, || We do not have the required resources and tools to complete our jobs sufficiently, There are broken Broda chairs that are unrepaired or not replaced when they should be. Regarding important equipment like foot pedals; our time is spent guessing which pedals are right for the residents as there has not been a physio-therapist for more than 2 years. Instead The office has 2 secretaries and 2 educators, but we are short staffed with Spectal Care Aids, the ones that provide the services to care for the residents at the home. (When) | ‘The Special Care Aids do not need to be supervised by so many administrative staff. We are competent employees that have been working at Santa Maria for years, and we are capable of doing our jobs without being policed. We are bullied at work, and sheets, like the one included at the end of this letter, indicating the number of absences and injuries are displayed every day on every floor. Our workplace should aim to decrease injuries and absences due to injuries, but instead, this information is displayed to further decrease employee morale. When we try to take a break from work, there is a nurse manager that continually denies vacation. Charlene Crosby used to be in charge of approving and denying vacation, it was a part of her scheduling duties, and she had a better understanding of how to grant or deny the vacation. Charlene had part of her job taken away, and now someone else who doesn’t seem to have an understanding of how to do it, is in charge of i. When Charlene was in charge of vacation and absence requests, she understood the staff on a personal level, for example, she knew why staff would ask for more then a couple days for bereavement leave, if travel outside the country was necessary. When this was a part of her duties and vacation was denied, at least there was a valid reason for it, Now, when we need a break that we are entitled to, vacation requests are continually denied. | have requested vacations days that are not at peak summer vacation times, and they have been denied. | have given multiple months notice for 2 ‘couple days off, and the request has been denied. When I questioned why my vacation days were always being denied, | was told that there wasn’t staff to fill in for my shifts, but that if considered taking a leave of absence, that | could have the days off. Why should | by taking a leave without pay when | am entitled to vacation days? What is that communicating to the staff? Page 1 of 4June 10, 2014 There is a break down of communication in general between the administrative staff and the Special Care Aids. Any ofthe feedback thatthe Special Care Ads presents never implemented. When we do voice our opinions at staff meetings, it sees like our thoughts and issues are meaningless as no minutes, are being taken at any of these meetings. There is no record of the items that are discussed, which leads ‘to nothing being followed up on. We have processes in place that do not need to be changed, but the administrative staff takes over duties that are already in place and running smooth. For example, processes like creating group lists are not simple math equations, dividing the number of residents by ‘the number of Special Care Aids. Not all groups are the same. Sometimes we have to deal with more aggressive residents, and it’s not fair for us to have the same number of residents as other groups when we have a heavier work load. The way the Special Care Aids have divided up the groups has worked for years, it had results, and it did not need to be changed. We are the ones that have an understanding of ‘the different care requirements that each of the residents need, they are more then names to be divided up equally on a list. When the administrative staff creates group lists for us, we feel like they are creating work for themselves to justify themselves being there. The CEO's famous words are “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” Items like group lists don’t need to be fixed. Changes to our rosters, and taking away the 12 hours shifts are another item that is not broke. People that are hired to fill n for vacation days are unable to show up for work, because they are never called, and of course they will ook for work elsewhere. Instead, some employees are called in for overtime, to work in a stressful environment, without the right tools, and this leads to an unsafe and unhealthy work environment, Physical and emotional strains are experienced, and when we have to go ‘on Worker's Compensation because we have pulled muscles or threw out our backs, the administrative staff can’t keep up with the paper work to ensure that we are paid. When injuries at work do occur, administrative staff investigates like we are lying about our injuries. According to the Catholic Health Ministries of Saskatchewan website, there are: Number of Administrative Staff: 6 Note: there are 12, and a posting for an additional position Total Number of Care Staff: 160 Total Number of Support Staff: 81 ‘Annual Budget: $11.4 M ‘Where is $11.4 million dollars being spent at Santa Maria? This home uséd to be oné Of the most) “changed. Special Care Aids have been threatened with terminations if they have called in sick more then twice a month, advised to take a leave of absence instead of taking vacation, called in for overtime to work on a floor that Is already short staffed with Special Care Aids. a. he administrative staff does not acknowledge us in the hallways and we feel the people preaching Santa’ Maria’s mission statement do not follow it. “This letter has the signatures of Page 2 of 4June 10,2014 ‘my co-workers that have the same Issues | have expressed in this letter. | am not the only one that Is feeling the stress of new management and the decline in morale over the last couple years at Santa Maria Care Home Inc. ‘Thank you for your time, and we look forward to change. ‘Signatures Collected: 2 Page 3 of 4Page 4 of 4for the whole building Date: “Saune 23 26) Y Daily Work Indicators - Resident Falls Residents with Santa Matia Staff Staff Sick in the O/T Shifts in the Yesterday aun ds Injured Yesterday last day last day , 4 &