Archive of posts from Saba-News.com Archive Saba News
UPDATE: a link from which one can download the report is at the end of this article.
The Daily Herald writes that the Health Care Inspectorate has decided to place the Honourable Henry Carlyle Every Home of Saba “the Home” under a regime of enhanced supervision for a period of six months, from October 20, 2014, to April 20, 2015. The decision to impose a regime of enhanced supervision is based on several factors, the most important being the risk to patient health, safety and wellbeing created by the Home’s failure to comply with current legislation, norms, (professional) standards and guidelines.
The Daily Herald reported last week about the arrival of new Quality Care Offcer Pieter van Amsterdam, and the inspectors’ last visit on November 13. Van Amsterdam elaborated on three deadlines that were put in place starting on October 20, after the draft report from June. These norms that must be met are part of the enhanced supervision now put in place.
Van Amsterdam replied to the official announcement that the norms set for November 20 have all been completed. The inspector who visited on November 13 concluded that this was in fact the case.“The intention of a merger between the Benevolent Foundation [the Home – Ed.]) and Saba Health Care Foundation, which is about to take place, is one of the very positive consequences of the inspectorate report,” says Van Amsterdam. “Right now, all employees are working hard on meeting the new requirements set for January 20, 2014.”
A letter by the Health Care Inspectorate that was sent to the home on October 20, 2014, was published Wednesday, November 26. This letter states that the Home’s care provision is not at the required level and cannot be deemed responsible. The risk of further deterioration is intensified by the absence of any effective improvement action and a lack of confidence in the Home’s management.
With a view to resolving the current shortcomings, the Inspectorate is there-fore imposing a regime of enhanced supervision for a period of six months, until April 20, 2015. These findings were mostly based on the report resulting from the inspectors’ visit from June 17 to 20, 2014. During the six-month enhanced supervision period, the Inspectorate will conduct one or more further inspection visits, which may be announced or unannounced. Based on the findings of these visits and the contents of the progress reports submitted by the Home, the Inspectorate will determine whether enhanced supervision may be lifted. If the results are deemed unsatisfactory, enhanced supervision will be extended and/or additional measures imposed, which may include legal action.
Click here to download the report: Honorable Henry Carlyle Every Home of Saba 17 to 20 June 2014 (700kB)
The board of the “Benevolent Foundation” (that name !) – consisting as far as I know of (among others) Roy Smith and Dave Levenstone – could have done better things than trying to go to court in an attempt to hide the report from the Inspectorate.
Here again Rene Caderiius van Veen is jumping into something that he knows absolutely nothing about and as always likes to jump into things to just vent his emotions. At no time did the board of the Benevolent Foundation Saba go to Court regarding the report which was made up by the Inspectorate.
What the board did was to seek legal advice from our attorney who wrote to the Inspector. Which is a given right that we had. As a board member let it be known that I have absolutely nothing to hide all I wanted to make sure that we had legal advice regarding the report.
The report contained a lot of issues that in my opinion was not correct because several matters were dealt with and was shard with the Inspector. but I can say that with all the blah blah the board of the foundation took a good decision at the time and based on that during the recent visit of the inspector in a meeting with the board he announced that he was satisfied with the progress that was made.
Yes the board did put things in place by hiring a European Dutch national to serve as our Quality Care Officer for the Home, we also entered into an agreement with a European Dutch consultant who came to the island and took the report apart and came up with viable solutions for the improvement and betterment of the Home.
I would say that by holding off on the publishing of the report was a good idea and forced us to and granted us the necessary time to find the best and capable persons to work along with us as a board and management to reach solutions. Publishing the report and not finding the experts to carry out the charges in the report would have not gotten us anywhere.
At least we met the first demands of the Inspector and the measures that needed to be put in place by November 20th were lifted by him on November 18th. The second set of measures are now being worked on very professionally and should be also lifted by January 20th 2015.
As a board we acted in good faith to solve the issues as pointed out int eh Inspector report and for me that is what matters at this time. the report is now public and our plan of action is also prepared and being worked on very diligently. Maybe Mr. Caderius van Veen should take a ride down at the Honorable Henry C. Every Home and see the improvements before jumping to write nonsense about hiding report.. My question to him will be has you ever visited the Home? There are positive things happening at the Home. We have had our shortcomings and we acknowledge that at least I do.
The new structures and laws has brought about changes in many areas on the island and it is expected that with time we will get there but we do need to have the experts to carry out the work. So Mr. van Veen we welcome you to pay a visit to the Home and see with your own eyes the developments and you are free to have discussions with the management and the experts. Also take up contact with the Sounding Board or become a friend of the Facebook page of the Home. End of case.
Wow, this report is really shocking!!! I presume that the observations of the inspectorate are correct and it is only thanks to friends and relatives of the clients of the Home, that the Inspectorate has forced the Board to properly look after their fellow Sabans.
If the Board had any decency, they should resign immediately.
It is always easy to criticize when you are on the side line and do not know the facts. Thank you Dave for explaining the current situation and improvements that are taking place at the moment.
Remember that board members are volunteers who spend their free time in order to help and serve the community to their best interest. If it needs correction or improvement audits and inspections will help and support you in this.
So please follow Dave’s advise and become an active contributer to Saba instead of just giving criticism.
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Well, well, what a commotion.Those who spend the most words on this, are likely to be the most emotional.
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No I am not emotional about the problems in the Old Age Home but many Sabans were and still are. Often I heard Sabans say that the last thing that they would want, would be being forced to go to that institution.
Many Sabans were and still are still emotional about their experiences with the Old Age Home.
Should anybody give a compliment to a board that never listened to other Sabans and that only reacted by attempting to improve the situation after they were forced by the Inspection?
It is not my intention to get into any arguments with anyone on this site but I must set the record straight. In 2008 when I became a member of the Benevolent Foundation Saba there were no kind of standards or norms in place on the operations of the senior citizen home.
All of us and I can say those that served before me can testify to this. For some 44 years the senior citizen home here on Saba has been in existance and never yet has anyone come forward with the norms and regulations. After going over to become a public entity for teh very first time in 2013 the Inspecor of helath from the Netherlands found out I assume that there was a Senior citizen on Saba and decided to visit the Home and all of a sudden he came with all kind of regulations, rules and norms.
Out of decency I firmly believe if the responsibilities were well explained to all of us as a responsible board we would have done our best to put things in place for a smoother operations. As a responsible board we accepted that there were shortcomings and we dealt with them as soon as possible following the damaging report of October. for me that is now water under the bridge and we have to continue on to brign the institution up to the standard which the Inpsector would like to see.
Work is in progress. To answer this Frank Baskin please bear in mind that every member of the board can step down any time because none of us are receiving a salary for what we have been doing. As Sabans we have done our utmost best to keep the institution in operation as best as we could. None of us are experts in health care or have the expertise that maybe the Inspector would have liked to see. With the little knowledge that we have here on our island we have tried in many areas to keep our institutions in operation. If Frank Baskin is an expert or any of the others that are critical we say to them step forward and join the bandwagon. Staying on the side line and being critical makes no sense at all. So to you Frank Baskin if you are a resident of Saba and you are so concerned let me inform you that I have made my position available as of December 31st 2014 and I would gladly like to recommend your name to replace me on the board of the foundation that operates the institution. Mind you my decision to resign has absolutley nothing to do with the report. I took my decision based on a conflict of interest situation that I am into based on the fat that I have taken on a particular position and does not find it ethical to remain on as a board member.
In my opinion I have served the foundation well over the last 6 years. With changes there will always be new procedures etc. and I have no problem with that once it is brought over in a much transparent manner. So Frank Baskin the challenge is there for you to now step forward.
To mr/mrs/ms sabaguru,
1.not knowing the facts ? Yes, we do know them now, in writing, despite the attempt of the board to hide them;
2.listing the improvements that are taking place now, by a boardmember, is giving themselves a certificate of incompetence; (we did not do it, we had to be forced)
3.inspections will help and support ? In this case the board is forced to implement the improvements;
4.to help and serve the community in their interest ? If you mean by “their” the residents of the Home, than I am sure you are being fooled. Just read the report completely;
5.Being active contributors instead of just giving criticism ? You still do not get it. The persons who complained, wrote and/or spoke to/with the Inspectors made a huge contribution already. You have to be thankfull for that. The fact that people are writing about it now is to get the thruth on the table, nothing more;
6.And last: to follow an advice from a boardmember who is co-responsible for the situation the Old Age Home is in ? You are a funny guy/girl.
I am sure the OAH will improve. Sad it had to go this way.
“Setting the record straight”: To behave and manage in a decent way is never dependant on standards and norms of authorities. Not listening to complaints of Sabans has little to do with the regulations of a ministry or an inspector.
Not being a professional in healthcare etc. is also not an excuse for poor management.
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