Pine Meadow Nursing Home – Clarification of operating procedures

Cheryl Hartwick | Feb 10, 2016

After Frontenac County Council voted down the request for a grant to help replace aging windows at Pine Meadow Nursing Home, there has been a lot of misinformation regarding how the home operates. As the current chairperson of the Land O’ Lakes Community Services (LOLCS) Board of Directors, I would like to clarify some of the confusion.

Pine Meadow Nursing Home is a community-owned, not-for-profit nursing home. The volunteer management committee, which oversees operations of the home, is a committee of the Land O’ Lakes Community Services Board, and the directors who make up the board are elected from a general membership that anyone in the community may belong to.

The board is responsible for hiring managers for the organization. We hire the administrator for Pine Meadow Nursing Home and the business manager and director of programs for our community based services. Those individuals report to and are responsible to the board. They hire and oversee the remaining employees of the organization.

LOLCS is the partner that signs the Long-Term Care Home Service Accountability Agreement (L-SAA). This agreement is set forth by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care between the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) and the long-term care provider. For Pine Meadow, the agreement is between Land O’ Lakes Community Services and the South East Local Health Integration Network. We do not receive any annualized tax dollars as we are not a county-owned home; however, the County of Lennox and Addington did provide us with a $250,000 commitment (over 10 years) to help with our expansion – even though L&A has its own municipal home, the John Parrot Centre, in Napanee.

Pine Meadow Nursing home is located in Northbrook, which is in Addington Highlands Township and Lennox & Addington County. It is important to note though, that approximately 1/3 of our 60 residents and 1/3 of our 100 employees are from Frontenac County (this number has been higher at times).

LOLCS purchases services from Extendicare Canada; as such, we are an Extendicare Assist Home, meaning we have a contract with Extendicare for certain services. They have a number of Assist homes, and each one has a contract that is suited to its individual needs. Our contract includes services such as payroll, H.R. support, accounting services, and legal services (when required). This contract also provides cost guarantees for supplies and food, as well as purchasing power for employee benefits and includes consultants for all programs at Pine Meadow. The management committee and the board of directors regularly evaluate the contract to determine our needs and contract renewal. Through our contract with Extendicare, we are also included in their computer networks, so our management employees have emails that indicate @extendicare, and we are linked to the Extendicare website.

I hope this information has clarified some of the issues about our wonderful home, but if you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact Margaret Palimaka, administrator of Pine Meadow Nursing Home, at 613-336-9120.