Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The community cannot take the Lyndoch Living board to court on behalf of Lyndoch unless they are a general member or board member of Lyndoch, a legal opinion has concluded.

This means the chance for a collective, community court action against the board has come to an end.

Readers will recall that in March, $12,000 was raised in crowdfunding to secure a top barrister’s opinion on whether the board had breached its responsibilities, both individually and collectively.

[For clarity, this opinion applies to a community action on behalf of Lyndoch, not individuals or an individual taking legal action against Lyndoch, which is a separate issue.]

The argument was the board was failing to uphold the original spirit of Lyndoch by its mass rejection of general member applications last year.

The barrister’s opinion started a step back, looking at whether the community could even take legal action against the board on behalf of Lyndoch.

It found they could not:

“…your clients would have no standing to bring any proceedings on behalf of [Lyndoch] if they were not members or directors,” he wrote.

Unfortunately, according to the opinion, the only possible paths remaining for the community are difficult, potentially very expensive, and most likely futile.

“The best they could do is write to the Attorney-General as protector of charitable trusts and provide their complaints to the Attorney-General and hope that the Attorney took some action or at least investigated – there would be no guarantees that anything would come of it,” the barrister wrote.

He then went on to say:

“They could, if they desired, ask the Attorney-General for her fiat (an official order) to commence a proceeding in her name, but a representative would have to be identified as a plaintiff and that person would be liable for costs and to indemnify the Attorney.

“Further, a fiat would only be granted if it could be shown that there was some reasonable basis to commence an action…That could only be achieved after significant investigations are undertaken to identify the directors and members … and any conduct which may provide a basis for complaint – which will not be easy.

“This may all be a moot point for your clients at this stage, but it does seem like they would have had a significant hill to climb.”

A significant hill to climb.

It says it all.

The community has been climbing hills for the past four years to bring greater light and transparency into Lyndoch Living’s board.

We are still climbing.

Note: The crowdfunding balance is lodged in trust with a Warrnambool legal firm. This fund will now be used as a Lyndoch Fighting Fund for future actions and challenges on behalf of the community, residents or staff as the need arises. I will be sure to keep you fully informed, as always.

Second note: The online petition to remove the board and replace it with an administrator is here. (Scroll down to sign). https://tinyurl.com/3nwac5nc You can also sign a paper copy this Sunday, 24 July, from 11am to 1pm at the Wbool Civic Green.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

On Friday, I deposited all the $$$ we raised to mount a legal challenge against the Lyndoch Living board into a trust account. Now, we wait.

And while we wait for the barrister’s opinion, let’s remember why this legal challenge is even necessary.

It’s necessary because, after seven decades of needing the community to survive, the seven remaining members of the Lyndoch board have decided to disconnect Lyndoch from the community, without consultation or explanation.

These seven people have become gatekeepers and, in my view, enablers.

They are not the only ones. There is a band of hand-selected enablers across Lyndoch now: carefully chosen for their willingness to oblige without question in return for…what? A salary? A promised career path? A certificate of appreciation?

Those who wouldn’t oblige, or who spoke up, or challenged, or simply decided they had had enough, are either going ….or gone. There was actually a hit list of those Lyndoch wanted out. They are all gone.

And as I write this tonight, yet another clinical leader has left.

And as I write this, I come to the end of another week where the distressing messages just keep coming in about staff shortages, care workers covering for nurses, nurses being run ragged, staff working double-shifts, being exhausted, and almost spent.

I would normally show you a screenshot of the staff shortages, but now Lyndoch is so paranoid about who is “leaking to The Terrier” (aka, letting the truth out) that staff fear text messages from Lyndoch will contain clues to try and trace them.

Staff also know – even if they no longer work at Lyndoch – that Lyndoch is watching closely to see if they comment or like a Terrier post.

The intimidation doesn’t end, it seems, even if you no longer work there.

So I will instead tell you that yesterday, 26 February, Lyndoch sent out a text saying it was, once again, “desperately in need of staff” in the dementia (Audrey Prider) and high care (Lake Lodge) wings.

In Audrey Prider, the high-care dementia wing, the shortages included four staff on two shifts, from 7am to 3.30pm and from 1.30pm til 10pm.

Audrey Prider has 45 beds and, during the day, should typically have nine staff: 1 Registered Nurse, 6 enrolled nurses and 2 care workers.

If you remove four staff from that equation, resident care suffers. Many, I am told, have to spend the day in bed as there is just not enough staff to go around.

And yet amid all of this desperation and exhaustion, we hear nothing from Lyndoch and nothing from the board.

So this, this is just one of the reasons that we are fighting back for our voice to be heard at the table. Not as board members, but as general members – from the community – who are prepared to stand up for our elderly and those who care for them.

I know for a fact the staff are reading these posts. We are here for you. We are fighting for you. And we are not giving up. #pressingon

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

This time last week, this page pushed a boat from the shore in the hope of raising $5000 to fund a court challenge against the Lyndoch Living board.

Not only did we meet that goal within two hours – we have more than doubled it.

Online and offline donations now sit at $10,570 (the fundraiser closes at midnight tonight).

Thankyou.

Thankyou to every single person who donated whatever they could afford to help.

Some people donated five or ten dollars, some donated two hundred or five hundred, but every person donated with the same sense of purpose: to bring the community back to the heart of Lyndoch.

Every cent of this Lyndoch fighting fund will go toward that goal.

The funds will shortly be transferred to a trust account with a legal firm and will be used to secure a barrister who is the best in this field of law.

The barrister will provide an expert legal opinion on whether the current Lyndoch board – collectively and individually – have failed in their duty to uphold the original spirit and purpose of Lyndoch aged care, which was started by the community more than 60 years ago.

This failure includes the rejection of all general membership applications these past two years.

It’s a challenge that, we believe, will result in a hearing in either the County or Supreme Court, and this is the first step.

We have been fighting this battle for accountability and transparency for more than two years, in fact it is almost two years to the day since a group of concerned people met with local federal MP Dan Tehan to express their serious concerns about Lyndoch.

Those concerns, in the past 12 months, have only escalated.

But now the community has spoken.

It is no longer waiting for the cavalry to arrive.

It IS the cavalry.

I will keep you informed every step of the way as this challenge unfolds but for tonight, I want to say thankyou.

Thankyou to every person who has had the courage to stand up for Lyndoch and to not simply sit back, stay silent, and watch.

And thankyou to everyone who has helped this terrier to keep fighting.

On we go.

[The fighting fund will remain open until midnight. You can find it here. If you would prefer direct deposit, please email me at TerrierCarol@protonmail.com]

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Tonight we are launching a Go Fund Me campaign on behalf of the Warrnambool community as the first step toward taking Lyndoch Living to court.

It’s time for action.

A group of community philanthropists has been working on this legal challenge for some time and have now reached the point where a barrister can be engaged.

The crowdfunding will pay for expert advice from a barrister who is the Australian specialist in this field of the law.

The advice will consider the best way to frame a case against the Lyndoch board – both collectively and as individual board members – on whether they have failed in their duty to uphold the original spirit and purpose of Lyndoch.

This failure includes the rejection of all general membership applications by the community these past two years.

It’s time for action.

This is the first step in a legal process that will probably take place in either the County Court or the Supreme Court.

We have been ignored, silenced, pressed down, rejected and dismissed by the board for more than two years.

Enough.

We are now moving, as a community, to hold the Lyndoch board to account.

To take the first step, we need to raise $5000.

This is the equivalent of 100 people donating $50, or 1000 people donating $5 each.

Chip in what you can afford.

It reminds me of the days of buying a raffle ticket to support Lyndoch – except this time the prize is not a car, but Lyndoch itself: keeping Lyndoch a community asset, fully accountable to the community it serves.

A professional legal opinion from the best in the field is the first step.

We have already explored the next step: receiving pro bono (free of charge) support to run the case in court. We have received some very positive responses.

Now is the time for action.

Let’s go.

Click here to chip in – you can be anonymous: [https://gofund.me/170a6e8b]

[If you prefer an offline method to chip in, please contact me via DM or at Terriercarol@protonmail.com]