Middlechurch care home director fired after audit

Theformer director of the Middlechurch care home is no longer employed at the facility, according to theWinnipeg Regional Health Authority.

The WRHA wouldn't sayif Laurie Kuivenhovenhas been fired or if she resigned, but Kuivenhovens lawyer said she was forced out.

"She was to come back to work on Monday, and she got a letter delivered to her house Friday evening saying she was fired," said Kuivenhovens lawyer, Grant Mitchell.

Her departure comes following a provincial ombudsman's investigation thatfound gross mismanagement of public funds at the facility, which is located just north of the Perimeter Highway in Winnipeg.

The audit came after a staff member filed a complaint in November 2011.

It showed that untendered maintenance contracts were being awarded to a company owned in part by Kuivenhoven and her husband.

But Mitchell said those contracts were approved by the homes board of directors.

"Evidence from her board of directors showed that many of the actions she took were supported by the board, disclosed to the board," said Mitchell.

"[That] is not reflected in the report."

Since the ombudsmans report was released, a third-party manager has been brought in to run the home, which receives about $10 million every year from the province.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says measures are being taken to improve oversight at Middlechurch Home of Winnipeg, but they have no plans on putting a WRHA representative on the board.

"We probably have to do more work in terms of doing some spot audits of things that are happening at facilities," said Real Cloutier, the vice-president of the WRHA.

"But our expectation is that any public bodies or personal care homes or agencies we fund is that they will do their job."

Cloutier said the WRHA will work to retrain the boards, and the agency is in the process of auditing all 24 not-for-profit care homes in Winnipeg.

In the meantime, Kuivenhovens lawyer says a wrongful dismissal lawsuit is in the works.