An Oxford County retirement residence on the centre of a fraud investigation has introduced it will likely be closing its doorways subsequent month, leaving residents and their households with simply a few weeks to seek out alternate lodging.
Miranda Guitard’s grandmother in-law lives at Trillium Care in Norwich. Guitard mentioned that she now has to interrupt the information to the 90 12 months previous that she has to pack her luggage and be gone from the place she now calls house.
“It’s a matter of getting her into an environment where she is taken care of, and where I don’t have to get a phone call every single night because she’s elevated, or she wants to get out because she’s locked in there and she has nowhere to go and nothing to do,” mentioned Guitard.
Miranda Guitard speaks to following the announcement of the closure of Trillium Care Norwich, October 28, 2024 (Bryan Bicknell/ London)
The aged woman was amongst victims caught up in an alleged embezzlement rip-off at Trillium Care over the summer season, at present beneath investigation by the OPP.
A letter from the house to residents states:
“Due to an emergency lack of financial resources necessary to sustain daily operations, we must close the facility. This decision was not made lightly, and every effort was explored to prevent this outcome. The home is scheduled to officially close its doors on November 11, 2024.”
In Guitard’s case, she had already been searching for a long-term care house to position her beloved one into, however the impending closure locations a fair better urgency on the household.
spoke with the supervisor of Trillium Care Norwich over the cellphone, Davyd Yushkin. He turned down our request for an interview, stating he had nothing extra to say on the matter.
We additionally reached out to the Retirement Properties Regulatory Authority for an interview, nevertheless it declined. The group responded in an e-mail, saying partly:
“The Retirement Homes Act requires that a licensee provide at least 120 days notice to residents and to RHRA before a home is slated for closure. Licensees who choose not to follow this are in breach of the Act.
Our priority is the protection of the home’s 18 residents and we continue to use all our regulatory powers to ensure their safety and well being.”
In line with the Ontario Well being Coalition, there’s little provincial oversight for personal retirement properties. “I’m sure a lot of these people thought ‘oh well we’ve got these health care services and we should be getting some modicum of care for our loved one,” remarked Peter Bergmanis of the Well being Coalition’s London chapter. “But they operate on a for profit basis and they really aren’t under any other legislation other than the landlord tenant act,” he defined.
Within the meantime, Miranda Guitard mentioned that her household misplaced greater than $6,000 within the alleged fraud at Trillium Care Norwich. OPP mentioned the full quantity misplaced to quite a few households quantities to greater than $50,000.
“I don’t know what the outcome’s going to be, but I hope for my family we get that back, and other families as well because the amount far exceeds even what we’ve experienced,” mentioned Guitard.
Oxford OPP mentioned that the fraud investigation is ongoing.
