Regina health-care workers plead for health authority to take over care home to avoid layoffs, resident displacement

Around 100 healthcare workers at a Regina care home are preparing for layoff notices following an announcement last week that the Regina Lutheran Home is closing its doors.

It’s a situation many workers feel could have been avoided, including Darleen Gilewich, who has 39 years of service as a care aide.

“Staff are very devastated. I mean a lot of the staff are long term staff. When you get into a facility like this, people tend to stay and make it their career and we feel that we’re like family to these residents,” Gilewich said.

As the long term care facility winds down operations by next spring, 60 residents are also being displaced. The union and the NDP opposition agree that the government should take over the facility.

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“A hundred people in Regina who are in danger of losing their employment at a time when you know there’s very few people who can afford any loss of employment at this time,” NDP leader Carla Beck said.

The province said the 60-year-old building is at the end of its life and the decision to close was made by Eden Care Communities and that the province was not involved.

“We recognize this is a difficult time for residents, families and staff and we are committed to working together to minimize impact and support a phased transition plan,” a written statement from the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) said.

The union was hoping that the provincial government would purchase the Regina Lutheran Home and maintain the operation like the province did last year with five Extendicare facilities in Saskatchewan.

So far, the government has expressed no interest in buying the Lutheran Home.