Carol Altmann – The Terrier

An update: Warrnambool vet Dr Michael McCluskey is marching on with his VCAT challenge against Lyndoch Living and its flat rejection of members from the wider community.

He now has a date.

Following VCAT’s acceptance of Dr McCluskey’s case late last year, a mediation hearing date has now been set for a videoconference on 10 March.

Dr McCluskey is testing whether Lyndoch Living has broken anti-discrimination laws by refusing to accept his membership application on the basis of his name and gender.

He is not the only one.

I – and one other  – also lodged a complaint with VCAT on these same grounds and, just an hour ago, had an email to say the case had been accepted and a mediation hearing will be scheduled in the near future.

Mediation is the first step in the VCAT process.

As we know, the Lyndoch Living membership application form allows only for a name and address.

On this basis – a name and an address – the Lyndoch board has rejected more than 130 applications for membership over the past two years.

As a result, Lyndoch has no general members.

Along the way, it has also failed to explain why it has rejected every application, including those from health professional and academic Prof James Dunbar, Order of Australia recipient Vicki Jellie, senior South West Health care nurse Kate Sloan, former aged care director Janet Dunn and experienced local business people, such as Marie Bird.

A bucket load of applications was also received from everyday people across the community – like me – who care about the future of Lyndoch, which has been a community asset for more than 60 years.

We are not letting go of our input into a much-loved community asset that easily.

Dr McCluskey said he was extremely pleased VCAT had accepted his application.

“Allowing a broad based community representation amongst Lyndoch Living’s membership is of utmost importance in my opinion if we are to see optimal outcomes for the vulnerable and those most at need amongst us,” he said.

Dr McCluskey said he could speak from personal experience about the importance of maintaining a thriving, community-based aged care home, as he was also a carer.

“We are currently providing 24/7 in home care for an elderly family member and that experience has heightened my awareness as to how crucial it is that we have community based aged care centres operating as caring and effectively as possible.”

Aside from his VCAT challenge, Dr McCluskey is preparing to try again with his membership application for Lyndoch.

He hoped the appointment of local consultant Robert Lane to review Lyndoch’s board membership would lead to an opening up of general memberships.

“I am hoping the appointment of an outside consultant will create a fresh ‘set of eyes’ and lead to a wiser mindset within the decision makers at Lyndoch Living,” Dr McCluskey said.

The shutting out of the community from Lyndoch Living is just one thread to this complex story, but it is a critical one.

General memberships are the only bridge between Lyndoch being fully transparent, or remaining a closed shop where the board has total control and the community remains at arm’s length.

I can only come back to the question of why – why would Lyndoch not want general members?

The challenges to VCAT provide some hope of an answer and – perhaps – a change.

Another challenge will be revealed shortly. Watch this space.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Tonight I can reveal that a group of Lyndoch staff tried to alert the Lyndoch board to a looming staff crisis more than a year ago, but was ignored.

An explosive letter has emerged that was written by a group of experienced staff to the Lyndoch board on 2 April 2020 – 18 months ago.

The letter was delivered to the board via a trusted intermediary, a Warrnambool GP.

Staff are forbidden under Lyndoch policy to approach the board directly, but the authors, who represented a cross-section of Lyndoch, clearly felt they had no choice.

“It is with grave concern that we feel compelled to formally address the Board of Directors of Lyndoch Living,” the letter begins.

“Our knowledge that this direct communication may lead to employment termination must also demonstrate the gravity of our actions and the reason we undertake this anonymously,” it says.

Between them, the letter says, the authors have more than 50 years experience in aged care and they came with a warning:

“Over the last four years we have seen a significant deterioration of staff morale, and poor and highly detrimental decision making…,” they write.

“This has resulted in a very poor culture, significant stress and distress among staff, sick leave and resignations”.

Let’s just stop there for a moment.

I wish I could publish the entire letter, but Lyndoch is too litigious for me to take that risk, so what follows is my edited version of what the authors outline as their issues of major concern, the alleged causes and the request for action.

The staff tell the board that they tried to raise their concerns through the normal channels, but have got nowhere.

In fact the situation only got worse.

“Unfortunately we have met with obstruction, denial or dismissal at each point,” they write.

Either a lack of action or consequences for speaking up, meant other staff remained silent, which led to more “inappropriate and detrimental behaviour”.

The authors say they turned to two politicians for help who were alarmed by their claims and urged the staff to contact the board directly.

So they did, via a letter that could not be more direct.

They urged the board to do a “fearless review” of Lyndoch Living that would include three things:

1. Engage an independent company to undertake a cultural staff survey. (The) previous cultural review was prepared for the law firm that represents Lyndoch Living.

2. Ensure that the recommendations within the independent survey are tabled, considered and actioned by the Board;

3. Engage an independent forensic accountant to review appropriate resident related expenditure and review the current investment portfolio and commitments in line with a not-for-profit culture.

And at the end of the letter came the kicker.

The authors offered to meet with the board, to show their faces, and to step away from anonymity.

They would do this, they said, provided they could be protected from any threat to their jobs, and assured confidentiality.

This is huge.

Anybody who knows a Lyndoch worker who wants to speak up, but doesn’t, knows that the number one reason given is fear of being targeted, or losing their job.

The courageous staff behind this letter swallowed that fear because they believed if they did nothing, the situation would only deteriorate.

They decided to trust the board.

So they wrote their letter, they had it delivered via the GP and they waited for a response via the same intermediary.

And nothing happened.

They didn’t get a reply, much less an invitation to come and talk with the board in confidence.

I know the board received the letter and I know it was discussed, but it went no further.

The board stayed silent.

And the brave staff, their hearts swollen with disbelief and disappointment, felt that they were entirely on their own. They retreated back into the shadows and got on with caring for the elderly and vulnerable residents of Lyndoch.

That was 18 months ago.

I don’t know what has happened to the staff who wrote this letter, but their predicted catastrophe has come to pass.

The steady loss of experienced and dedicated staff from right across Lyndoch over the past five years has, in recent weeks, become a flood.

And still the board says, and does, nothing.

* Board members Percy Eccles and Suzanne Coulson resigned in March and May of this year. They have not been replaced.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Even South West MP Roma Britnell can’t get straight answers from the Lyndoch Living board.

The board has given short shrift to Ms Britnell’s recent questions about its blanket rejection of 115 membership applications from the community.

Its fulsome response to Ms Britnell was, wait for it, that it was “acting within the Lyndoch constitution.

End of conversation.

Ms Britnell was told nothing more.

At least the board is even handed when it comes to answering questions: it ignores everyone.

Ms Britnell, like the rest of us, learned nothing about why the applications were rejected, the criteria used, or the process followed.

We can only surmise, therefore, that there was no process or selection criteria.

It doesn’t matter that Ms Britnell, a State MP and our elected representative, was asking questions on behalf of her local constituents.

She was given zero from the board that, in theory, is also supposed to represent the community.

So if Ms Britnell can’t get an answer, what hope does someone like Warrnambool resident Margy Jackson have?

Margy, a retired school teacher, recently wrote to Lyndoch chair Sue Cassidy expressing her concerns about Lyndoch and the cutting out of the community.

Margy has had no response.

Former Deakin Professor James Dunbar and retired naval officer Jim Burke wrote to the board some months ago expressing their concerns about the viability of the $22m medical clinic being built at Lyndoch.

They have had no response.

It appears that the current board of seven volunteers – Ms Cassidy, Kane Grant, Andrew Paton, Kerry Nelson, Prof Rob Wallis, Lorraine Mielnik and Ron Page – has decided they are answerable only to themselves and the CEO.

Have they lost sight of who built and supported Lyndoch for so many decades?

Why else would the board agree to turn its back on their own community?

And why would these remaining board members (Percy Eccles and Suzanne Coulson quit earlier this year) want to be a part of such a closed shop?

Only they can answer that question.

I don’t expect any answers soon, but with Lyndoch’s staff and residential care – its core business – suffering under the board’s watch, the questions will only keep coming.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

South West MP Roma Britnell has asked Lyndoch for an explanation as to why every single membership application from 115 lodged this month was rejected.

“I’ve had contact from a number of people about this issue,” Ms Britnell said.

“I understand that Lyndoch, as a community established and owned service, holds a special place in the heart of the Warrnambool and south west community and I am aware of concerns that some people have raised.

“As such I have made contact with Lyndoch Living asking for advice on the application process and why applications may be rejected.”

Lyndoch is not always rapid in its responses to Ms Britnell, but we can only hope she receives a fulsome answer shortly.

Ms Britnell’s views are shared by other community leaders, including Member for Western Victoria Bev McArthur.

Ms McArthur said she was concerned that so many membership applications had been rejected and “would like to understand why this has happened”. 

“As a community organisation, openness and accessibility to residents should be a high priority,” she said.

“Many of the membership applicants were highly qualified and motivated, and could surely have brought great energy and expertise to Lyndoch.”

Ms McArthur said the current members of Lyndoch should be on the public record, and the criteria for the application process properly explained.

“The existing situation seems needlessly secretive, and does nothing to cement the vital community link.

“I call upon Lyndoch Living to live up to its position as a community asset, and be more open and engaging in matters of ordinary membership, board membership, and AGM participation.”

Wannon MP Dan Tehan was less direct, but said the Federal Government expected “approved providers to select board members with relevant skills and expertise” to ensure “quality of care for senior Australians is prioritised and maintained.”

A good point, Mr Tehan, because as is stands, there is nobody on the Lyndoch board with experience in aged care.

Mayor Vicki Jellie and four other Warrnambool City councillors responded to a request for comment, with each speaking personally rather than on behalf of the council.

Mayor Jellie said Lyndoch Living was a valued and much loved local community facility that was “extremely important to us all”.

“As a community member, I would like to see diversity in the membership of our local community organisations to support strong, effective leadership and oversight.

“I acknowledge and commend all of those within the community who put forward applications to become Lyndoch members.”

Cr Ben Blain said “it would be good to see some new local faces on the board that represent the community” –  a view also shared by Cr Debbie Arnott.

“Lyndoch is a community owned facility and its board and membership should reflect that…I do feel it might be good to see some new faces on the board,” Cr Arnott said.

Cr Angie Paspaliaris said she believed that any community owned organisation should “seek to be as transparent, engaged and communicative as possible with the community they are there to serve.”

“There are many experienced, extremely well qualified people in Warrnambool who would be great members and contributors to the operation of our local aged care facility,” Cr Paspaliaris said.

Lastly, Cr Max Taylor said it was only “logical and permissible” that people from the community be allowed to become members of Lyndoch, and – if they so desired – to nominate for the board.

“I am sure that one of the original Board Presidents for many years in Stan Berlyn would most certainly permit this process,” Cr Taylor said.

The next Lyndoch AGM is on 26 October. Board nominations close on 12 October, but given there are no new members (that we know of), I don’t know who will be nominating for the two board vacancies left by Percy Eccles and Susanne Coulson.

We shall see.See you Sunday.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

My final profile from the roll call of the rejected. This is Claire Macrae Drylie and her late aunt Gwen McKellar.

In the 1960s, Gwen, or Mate as she was called by family, sorted out the pay packets for Lyndoch staff each week for free.

But now her niece Claire, who has lived in Warrnambool for more than 40 years, is among the 115 people whose membership application to Lyndoch was rejected without reason.

It doesn’t matter a squit that her aunt Mate was one of the many, many people who Lyndoch once relied upon to survive.

Claire is the final person from the long roll call of rejections that I will profile here, and I have chosen her story because it captures the community spirit that sustained Lyndoch for decades.

When Lyndoch was still in its infancy, Mate volunteered her time each week to “do the pays” for the Lyndoch staff, working from the kitchen table in her home in Henna St.

At the time, Mate was working as a secretary and raising two young children, Margie and Andrew, with her husband Colin.

But still she found time each week for her Lyndoch work.

Claire remembers the “pay days” as something like this:

“Mate sitting at a 1960s Laminex table (yellow) with a stack of cash and Lyndoch envelopes, with my sister Annie and I ‘helping’.

“Margie and Andy could be crying in the background because they are hungry, but Mate always put the needs of her community, ie. Lyndoch, first.

“And that’s how Lyndoch was born, on the sweat of ordinary people like Mate.”

Claire has nailed it.

Lyndoch was born on the sweat of ordinary people like Mate.

The Lyndoch board, led by chair Sue Cassidy and vice chair Kerry Nelson, has now decided that these ordinary people are no longer welcome and membership is by invitation only.

They don’t want people like Mate. If Mate was alive and had applied, she would not have made it through.

Such is the new corporate Lyndoch, where residents are customers, and progress is measured in concrete.

It is a community owned asset that has no community members.

And nobody knows why.

Tomorrow night I will write the responses from our community leaders – MPs Dan Tehan, Roma Britnell, Bev McArthur, Mayor Vicki Jellie and the Warrnambool City Councillors – to the blanket rejection.

Thanks for hanging in here this week. On we go.