In the past 12 months, six faces have disappeared from the Lyndoch Living board and executive. Image: Lyndoch Living annual report 2020.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
Another member of the Lyndoch Living board has resigned – the second resignation from the board in two months.
Suzanne Coulson, a researcher and lecturer at Deakin University in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, joined the Lyndoch board in 2017.
I don’t know why Ms Coulson resigned, and I doubt she could speak to me anyway, as all board members are bound by a confidentiality agreement which was introduced after the departure of former CEO Rhys Boyle in 2015.
Ms Coulson’s resignation follows that of veteran board member Percy Eccles, who left in March after serving almost 10 years.
Ms Coulson was one of only two board members with medical qualifications. The other is fellow lecturer in the Deakin School of Nursing and Midwifery, Lorraine Mielnik.
The resignations of both Mr Eccles and Ms Coulson come as Lyndoch Living faces mounting pressure to explain a number of concerns around its plan to build a $24 million medical clinic on site, with fears the project could send Lyndoch broke.
Lyndoch’s former Acting Chief Financial Officer Allan Conway raised the red flag publicly when he said he did not support the clinic project in its current form.
Lyndoch recently appointed its third chief financial officer in five years, with the departures of David Knight and Katie Wright.
Other recent executive resignations include IT director Dr Ed Rhode and Director of People and Resilience Fiona Moore.
A community action group made up of Warrnambool residents concerned for the future of Lyndoch was launched last week – you can follow/like the “Keep Lyndoch living” group on Facebook here.
Lyndoch Living concerns amid pandemic met with silence
Questions around two people from Melbourne entering Lyndoch and a delay in the issuing of masks to all staff have failed to produce a murmur from the Lyndoch board.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
This past week has seen two extremely serious issues arise at Lyndoch Living aged care in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and yet the response from the board is a wall of silence.
First, Lyndoch only issued masks to all of its staff yesterday: 12 days after the Federal health minister declared masks mandatory for staff in all aged care homes in Victoria.
Second, Lyndoch allowed two people from Melbourne into its facility last Thursday and Friday, despite that city being in full lockdown and a declaration from the Victorian Chief Health Officer that, as of last Wednesday night, tightened access to aged care homes even further.
I asked the board members – chair and MPower CEO Kerry Nelson, hairdresser and W’bool City Councillor Sue Cassidy, accountant Kane Grant from Sinclair & Wilson, retired academic Rob Wallis, nursing academics Suzanne Coulson and Lorraine Mielnik, agriculturalist Ron Page, WCC manager Andrew Paton and real estate agent Percy Eccles – if they were concerned and if they intended to investigate.
Silence.
Not a single word.
I am not sure who the board represents, but it is clearly not the community.
We have not been given any explanation, or had any response to these concerns, from the CEO, the chair, or the board.
Lyndoch is community owned in theory, but it might as well be owned by Bupa.
Fortunately there are still people who will speak up for us and the most vulnerable people in our community in the face of this devastating pandemic.
South-west Victoria Upper House MP Bev McArthur said by email last night that she was “alarmed” by the allegations around people from Melbourne entering Lyndoch and would be investigating the matter further.
“There is no question that aged care facilities should have bulletproof infection control strategies, and we already have seen the tragic consequences of failures in this area,” she said.
“I will certainly contact the senior management of Lyndoch Living to ask for explanation of this apparent incident, and reassurance that proper controls are in place to protect vulnerable residents and indeed the whole local community.”
Local MP Roma Britnell was less direct. She suggested concerns about any breaches of the restrictions could be forwarded to the police.
As of today, Victoria is moving toward compulsory masks in public and even tighter restrictions on social contact and travel.
In this climate, I cannot understand why any aged care facility would be taking any risks unless it was absolutely unavoidable.
What is Lyndoch’s reasoning for its actions of the past week?
As it sits, we – the broader community – still have no answers to that question.
Inside Lyndoch Living and why we need to be worried
Just weeks after the resignation of then Seymour Health CEO Doreen Power, a record crowd of more than 300 people turned out to a public meeting held in Seymour to address the many troubles of the hospital.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
This Lyndoch Living story has gone to places that I never expected it to go and that includes wading into the work history of CEO Doreen Power which, to be frank, is why I am so troubled by what is unfolding here.
I will write more about Ms Power’s back story in the near future, but for now I just want to lay out the context for my concern and why I am latching on to this story for the long haul.
In the seven years before Ms Power became CEO of Lyndoch in December 2014, she held three senior positions:
Then as CEO of Plenty Valley Community Health for less than two years, before an interim CEO was appointed in December 2013.
And, lastly, working briefly as Director of Nursing at Tweddle Child and Family Health Service until that role was taken over by another person in February 2014.
I have spent many hours researching and talking to people about Ms Power’s time at Seymour and Plenty in particular and a disturbing pattern has emerged, one which I believe is being replicated at Lyndoch:
– a culture of bullying and dismissal
– extremely low staff morale
– a compliant board or attempts to create one
– an impact on residential care and services
– a culture of secrecy and a lack of transparency
Journalists, I can tell you, don’t have either the time or inclination to go digging into people’s work history unless it is relevant to a story unfolding now.
Ms Power’s back story is absolutely relevant and it is why I am committed to writing all that I know – based on a huge amount of research and dozens of interviews – because you need to know.
We need to know because Seymour Health and Plenty Valley Community Health, in particular, are the red flags.
Both took years to recover.
The opening sentence of the chair’s annual report to Plenty Valley Community Health, the year after Ms Power left the organisation. Ms Power was less than two years in the position.
Thanks to your help, I am going to pick apart what is happening at Lyndoch – all of it – because Lyndoch was set up by the community, to care for some of the most vulnerable in our community. Full stop, end of story.
Over the coming weeks, I am going to write about:
where Lyndoch is heading, its priorities, the breaking down of resident care, its venture into building and running a commercial medical clinic, who is paying for what, who is running what, who is in charge of what, whether Lyndoch is still primarily a charity and public benevolent institution, how the board is handling complaints, the change of the Lyndoch constitution, how the board is chosen, how the public can become members, the lack of transparency around its full financials, its support for gambling via a horse race, other sponsorship deals, potential conflicts of interest, who is involved in the new company Lyndoch HealthCare, and anything else worthy of forensic examination.
I will also be telling you much more about Ms Power’s time at Seymour Health, and Plenty Valley Community Health, and explore how she became employed by Lyndoch.
Lyndoch CEO Doreen Power having won the inaugural Aged Care CEO of the Year by Australian Healthcare Week awards in 2019. Lyndoch chair Kerry Nelson and Director of Nursing Julie Baillie also attended the Sydney event. Image: Lyndoch Living.
It’s going to be a long, slow haul, but it is an essential one.
It’s going to be tiring work, but we have done this before, you and I – the terriers and The Terrier – and we know we can make a difference.
We can be a voice for the workers (past and present) and the residents and for the Lyndoch we know and love, and together we can step up to where the majority of the board seemingly refuses to go.
If there is one thing I have learnt from my research around Seymour and Plenty Valley, it is that we need to start now.
Strap yourselves in and on we go.
More soon.
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