Community (still) owns Lyndoch Living, but does it matter?

The question of exactly who owned Lyndoch aged care in Warrnambool was challenged during a push to merge with the W’bool Base Hospital. Image: via Peter Yule, Lyndoch: The First 50 Years.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Tonight I want to answer a question that just keeps coming up: who owns Lyndoch Living?

The answer is the Warrnambool community.

In fact Lyndoch has been owned by the people of Warrnambool since day one, right back to the time when the “Lyndoch” property was secured by Ern Harris in 1952 and a public fundraiser was held to raise £13,000 toward the £40,000 price tag.

All of the land on which “Lyndoch” sits is also owned by Lyndoch Living, so the community owns that too.

This includes a slice of Scoborio Reserve that was portioned off by the Warrnambool City Council more than 20 years ago so Lyndoch could build the Tomlinson Centre for residents with dementia.

It’s the Tomlinson Centre that was recently bulldozed to make way for a planned $24 million medical clinic that is now at the centre of concerns that it could send Lyndoch broke.

In many ways, the Tomlinson Centre was what Lyndoch used to be all about.

The original building was funded through a generous donation from the Tomlinson family, and later extensions were paid for with the help of the A.L Lane Foundation, the Ray and Joyce Ubergang Foundation, the Ern Hartley Foundation and the Warrnambool Rotary Club.

That’s how Lyndoch used to work.

It used to work hand in glove with the community to raise funds to get things done, through raffles, Christmas parties and by simply asking for the public’s help.

In return, the community showed absolute loyalty to Lyndoch, especially when it was under threat of being merged or privatised, as it was in the 1990s.

The State and Federal governments fund various aspects of Lyndoch, but it is not government owned.

Nor is it privately owned.

Instead, Lyndoch sits in sweet spot of being community owned, but publicly funded.

This unique structure was tested in 1992, when the Labor Government tried to merge Lyndoch with the Warrnambool Base Hospital.

No bloody way, said the locals.

A strong, united, grassroots campaign led by then Lyndoch board members Drs Mike Page and Noel Bayley created multiple headlines and saw the idea wither.

As Peter Yule writes in his 2003 history of Lyndoch, the battle “brought home the value of Lyndoch as a unique community asset”.

This community ownership was tested again in the 1990s, when the Kennett Government planned to privatise all public aged care homes.

Lyndoch sought a legal opinion which confirmed, as Peter Yule writes, its unique legal status as “a community owned facility that provides public services”.

So let’s be clear – the community of Warrnambool owns Lyndoch.

It always has.

But so what?

As it stands, the community is shut off from any meaningful connection with Lyndoch and its decision makers.

We have lost that thread of accountability and mutual loyalty.

The board, which is now hand-picked by insiders, no longer answers questions issued by the media or individuals because, I guess, they dismiss all concerns as a beat-up.

In this new era, a former Acting Chief Financial Officer can raise the alarm over the viability of the $24 million medical clinic and it is met with silence.

This is incredible and, apparently, the new normal.

Gone are the days when we had a Dr Page or a Dr Bayley at the table, speaking up for the community and settling any concerns with straight forward answers.

Gone are the days of CEO Rhys Boyle, who lived in Warrnambool and became a recognisable part of its fabric.

Gone are the days of Lyndoch living within its means because now it doesn’t turn to the community, but to the banks.

Change happens – of course – but one of my biggest concerns when I first started to write about the changing face of Lyndoch Living 18 months ago was that the community would lose control of this valuable community asset.

It appears it already has.



Inquiry into aged care a chance to break the fear and silence

Lyndoch Living CEO Doreen Power cheering on from the stands during the 2019 May Racing Carnival. Image: Lyndoch Living/ Racing Victoria.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

This week will be a reckoning for aged care across Australia and I can hope it blows the lid right off what is a national disgrace.

We only have to look at our own neck of the woods to see how little official outrage there is to what should be unacceptable.

It’s more than two months since The Terrier revealed an outbreak of scabies within Lyndoch Living, our much-loved, community-owned aged care home in Warrnambool.

When whistleblowers revealed scabies in a Whyalla nursing home last November, A Current Affair and a South Australian MP were on the doorstep demanding answers.

It’s also more than a year since I wrote about staff tearing up sheets and towels to use as facewashers, and more money being spent on consultants and lawyers than on food for residents.

More than a year has passed since I revealed a family member of a resident was sleeping on the floor next to her mother for seven days because her mother had had a series of falls and there was not enough staff to keep an eye on her.

At the same time, Lyndoch senior staff, right up to the CEO, and senior board members, were attending the May Races.

It’s also a year since a leaked copy of a staff survey revealed serious allegations of bullying and intimidation at Lyndoch that went right to the very top.

It’s well over a year since I first wrote about the steady stream of staff who were leaving Lyndoch, sometimes after decades of service, because of alleged bullying, being “targeted”, or given little option to resign and – if they are lucky – given a payout to sweeten the blow. I call it “keep quiet” money.

Is that sort of thing still happening? Yes.Yes, it is.

It’s eight months since we learned two architects from Melbourne were visiting Lyndoch Living despite the “ring of steel” Covid-19 lockdown in that city.

Lyndoch denied they were even from Melbourne.

It’s 18 months since we learned that the community was no longer welcome to become members of Lyndoch: every single membership application from the general community has been rejected, including that of our now Mayor Vicki Jellie.

Board member positions are no longer advertised.

The annual general meeting is no longer advertised.

Has there been an outcry from the board at this lack of inclusion? No.

Regardless, we have still unpicked the fact that Lyndoch has recorded a series of deficits these past five years and will borrow money from residential bonds (as the current laws allow it to do), to fund its $100 million masterplan.

We also recently learned, thanks to two former Lyndoch workers who peeled back the lid, that Lyndoch was gobbling up to 44 per cent in management fees for home care packages.(Again, the laws currently allow these fees.)

And this still doesn’t touch on what I haven’t been able to publish, because Lyndoch is litigious and I have to pick my way through a minefield to report even this much.

Our local political leaders know about most –  if not all – of the above. Some of them have even met personally with those directly affected.

And yet, perhaps despite the best of intentions, nothing has come of it.

That may change after this week.

This week will see the public release of the findings of the Royal Commission into Aged Care and the federal government’s initial responses.

The sad and infuriating story of what people are expected to “put up with” – as aged care residents, aged care staff, the residents families and the wider community – will be laid bare.

It will no doubt emphasise the need for better staffing ratios, better pay, better training and working conditions, better scrutiny of those in positions of responsibility, greater transparency around funding and fees, and why aged care residents should never been seen as “customers”.

But I also hope this inquiry exposes why so many people connected to aged care feel disempowered from speaking up and out about what they know, because they fear the repercussions.

I can tell you that fear and silence around Lyndoch Living is very real, even if not everyone is touched by it.

I know it, several GPs around Warrnambool know it, several lawyers around Warrnambool know it. Our local MPs know it. The families and friends of those directly affected know it.

The release of the Royal Commission findings is our chance as a whole community to speak up for those who can’t do so themselves.

This was the promise the community made to Lyndoch when it was first built more than 60 years ago: first and foremost it would protect and care for the elderly and frail, and those who look after them.

Now is the time to make good on that promise.

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Illegal signage illuminates bigger issues at Lyndoch

The illuminated Lyndoch Living sign installed – illegally – on the Swinton Wing building by Cassign.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Update: Turns out the new, swish piece of illuminated corporate branding at Lyndoch Living is illegal – there is no permit for this sign to be installed on the side of Swinton Wing.

As readers know, this sign, which is bright-white at night (disclaimer: I live not far away, but these photos were taken by another nearby resident), was installed last week by Cassign, which is the business owned and operated by the husband of the new Lyndoch board chair, Sue Cassidy.

We still don’t know if all the signage works undertaken by Cassign at Lyndoch Living these past months went to tender (Steve Moore, did you have any luck finding out?), but I do know that there is no council permit for this one.

This means a permit must be sought retrospectively from the Warrnambool City Council.

How does Lyndoch think it can get away with it?

Meanwhile, as the corporatisation of Lyndoch rolls on, I continue to get calls and emails and messages every second day from families worried about staff shortages, staff exhaustion and the impact of both on some residents.

Yes, yes, we all know these complaints can be taken here, and reported there, but what happens as a result? Nothing.

Nothing seems to change and the staff become more tired, and families of those residents affected become more frustrated.

I know not all families are affected and we all know that Lyndoch’s hard working staff do the very best they can, but the resignations keep coming – from the nursing staff to those working at Waterfront Living.

I hear about them all, and I despair that nothing happens to fix it and turn things around.

All I see is more corporate branding, more executive appointments, more staff surveys, and fluff stories about Lyndoch trying to win awards.

Who will step up? Who is going to step forward and say, enough of this?

This whole story is much bigger than a sign on a building, but that illegal, unnecessary and expensive sign – to me – sums up the changing priorities of Lyndoch Living, the arrogance, and a corporate culture that cares more about image than substance.

We own Lyndoch, we must never forget that, but we have lost control of its destiny and we no longer recognise its soul and I am not sure how we can reconnect with both, but every time I speak to those families and workers who are in the thick of it, I know we have to keep trying.



Lyndoch Living: does bullying and intimidation just vanish?

My favourite slogan from a new-media inspiration, ProPublica, which refuses to just walk away from wrong doing. Image: ProPublica.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Does bullying and intimidation just disappear?

It’s seven months since a leaked staff survey at Lyndoch Living revealed poor staff morale and serious allegations of intimidation and bullying that went right to the very top – nothing has been heard of it since.

Was anything done within Lyndoch to address these allegations, and to lift poor staff morale?

This is another question to add to the list for tomorrow’s (27/10) Annual General Meeting, which we cannot attend as it’s by invitation-only Zoom (Lyndoch says a recording will be uploaded later to its website).

It’s a question that should concern us all.

Long-term readers will know that The Terrier has written a series of stories questioning why more than 80 staff had left the aged care home in the past two years, amid allegations of staff being targeted, bullied and devalued.

The special survey was held in response to these stories and the results leaked in March confirmed the toxic environment.

A majority of respondents raised issues of being overworked and under-valued, and claimed management favoured some staff over others.

Two-third of respondents said Lyndoch did not uphold its values, starting from the CEO down.

The survey then went on to report this bombshell:

“A small sample of around 10-15 respondents stated that the CEO’s culture of intimidation, manipulation and bullying greatly impacted their safety, health and wellbeing.

They said they witnessed her bullying others and making decisions in regard to her own self-interests and not the organisation as a whole.”

Sadly none of the allegations in the survey came as a surprise to me, as by March I had spoken to dozens of people who all told the same heartbreaking and terrible stories of being managed out, pushed out, demeaned, isolated, or cut loose.

Lyndoch’s culture, like that of the Warrnambool City Council, had gone bad.

South-West MP Roma Britnell who sought a meeting with Lyndoch Living over the staff survey results. Image: Liberal Party Victoria.

South-west MP Roma Britnell, a former nurse, had been similarly contacted by people seeking her intervention and in March she demanded a meeting with the CEO and Lyndoch board.

Then Covid-19 hit.

And the meeting between Ms Britnell and Lyndoch never happened.

So, I have to ask again, does bullying, intimidation and low staff morale just disappear?

Of course it doesn’t.

As of today, I have never had a response from Lyndoch to requests for a comment on this staff survey, the allegations, or what actions it has taken to address the allegations, but CEO Doreen Power told the local newspaper at the time that she would “take on board” the findings.

Ms Britnell, in a statement, said she continues “to have discussions with Lyndoch Living on a range of matters”, which – I guess – is hopeful.

In the meantime, Lyndoch is about to launch another anonymous staff survey – this one is held every two years – to again take the pulse on staff wellbeing and whether everyone is heading “in the same direction”….rather than, perhaps, out the door.

“I encourage you to be completely honest,” Ms Power has written in an email to staff.

Well, yes, but what happens after the staff are honest, as they were the last time they were surveyed?

That’s what I am hungry to know, as are all those who have left Lyndoch these past five years in less than happy circumstances.

Allegations of bullying and intimidation at Lyndoch Living were revealed in a special staff survey leaked in March.

This next survey is being run by Alignment Partners, owned by a fellow named Michael Webb, who has worked in the past with Lyndoch on management-type issues.

So many surveys.

I made a promise to those who entrusted me with their stories that I would not look away until the issues and allegations were addressed and we, as the community who owns Lyndoch, could take comfort that they were being addressed.

It’s the same promise I made to Warrnambool City Council staff who filled out survey after survey for a decade and saw nothing change…until everything blew open.

We may not be able to Zoom in on the Lyndoch AGM tomorrow, but we are watching.

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Cr Cassidy appointed Vice President of Lyndoch Living

Lyndoch Living CEO Doreen Power with board deputy president Cr Sue Cassidy and board member Andrew Paton…and the ever hopeful Abbey the Unofficial Member of Lyndoch.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Here’s a little surprise I discovered purely by accident – Warrnambool City Councillor Sue Cassidy is now Vice President of Lyndoch Living.

Wow, that is called shooting to the top after just three years on the board.

Ms Cassidy is second in charge on the board of the largest aged care home in Warrnambool and no doubt primed to replace President/chair Kerry Nelson when she retires.

At least two board vacancies should be coming up at next week’s Lyndoch Living AGM, although I can’t be sure, because board vacancies are no longer advertised.

But on my reckoning, Ms Cassidy is one of them and WCC colleague City Growth Manager Andrew Paton is the other.

Abbey, the Unofficial Member of Lyndoch representing the broader community, had hoped to apply.

Of course she had no hope, because to become a board member, you have to first be a member – approved by the board.

At last count, there are no members of Lyndoch Living who are not already connected to Lyndoch.

As I have written before, this is because ever since Lyndoch changed in 2018 from an association to a Company Limited by Guarantee, it runs pretty much as a closed shop.

Board members are now appointed by invitation to what is a volunteer position.

Not only did Abbey have to scale that impossible hurdle, she had to unseat either Mr Paton or Ms Cassidy and they are going nowhere fast.

Because Ms Cassidy and Mr Paton have another special job inside Lyndoch and that is as co-directors of Lyndoch Healthcare Pty Ltd.

The third director is Lyndoch CEO Doreen Power.

Lyndoch Healthcare Pty Ltd is the company that oversees the Warrnambool Medical Clinic which was bought by Lyndoch last year for $1.3 million and will be relocated to Lyndoch as part of the $100 million masterplan.

Here is question for the AGM next Tuesday: are the directors of Lyndoch Healthcare Pty Ltd paid? And if so, how much? And did the board select who became directors?

I hate to break it to Abbey, but I don’t think she is going to be elected to the board as a fresh face and neither, most likely, is anybody else.

[The Lyndoch Living AGM is next Tuesday at 4pm and will be Zoomed live by invitation only. Lyndoch has said a recording of the event will be uploaded to its website.]