Susan Brant – new Fairmount Home administrator during a pandemic

Jul 15, 2020

At the beginning of March, Susan Brant was feeling pretty comfortable for someone who was taking on a new job in an industry where she had never worked before.

That’s because she wasn’t really leaving the organisation where she already had a leadership role. Lisa Hirvi, her predecessor as Fairmount Home administrator, had left for an opportunity at the Eastern Ontario Regional Network, the group that is working to bring high speed Internet to all Eastern Ontario Communities.

Until March, Brant was the Treasurer/Manager of Corporate Affairs for Frontenac County, and she sat on the leadership team of the county. Fairmount Home (a long-term care facility) is one of the two largest services provided by the county, and in her role supervising human resources and information technology and financial service for Frontenac County and Fairmount Home operations, Brant was quite familiar with aspects of Fairmount’s operations.

The County offices and Fairmount Home are also located in the same complex on Battersea Road in Glenburnie.

“I let Kelly Pender [Chief Administrator for Frontenac County] know that I was interested in the Fairmount Home administrator position when Lisa announced she was leaving,” she told the News in an interview this week.

She was offered the Fairmount job, and Frontenac County deputy Treasurer Alex Lemieux was promoted to treasurer.

Although she has never worked in long term care, she said that it is not that different from administering departments where she is not a subject matter expert, such as the County IT department. Part of the administrator’s role is also to deal with high level finances, Frontenac County administration and council and provincial officials, all things she was already familiar with.

The changeover happened pretty quickly, but not, it turns out, as quickly as the world of long-term care, and the world as whole, took a radical turn.

Brant started at Fairmount about a week before the COVID-19 lockdown hit the home, a time of unprecedented change and stress, on the staff and the residents who live at Fairmount.

“Fortunately, the staff at Fairmount are very good at their jobs, and we have been able to implement the necessary protocols quickly, in many cases in advance of provincial orders. Our staff were wearing masks over a week before they were mandated in long term care facilities, for example.

“And the residents here are just super. It has been a privilege to meet them. They are the people who built this country.”

It is the nurses on the floor and the director of care who have had to console family members of residents, who have been torn apart by one of the most difficult consequences of the lockdown, not being able to visit their vulnerable loved ones. But as administrator, Susan Brant needs to be aware of the difficulties faced by everyone in the situation, including staff.

“That has been difficult for the staff and the residents, and to be able to loosen those rules over time while keeping everyone safe has been a big accomplishment over the last month or so. But we need to be careful, as everyone knows”

COVID-19 has also made it very hard to stick to the 2019 budget. The provincial government has provided special funding for personal protective equipment for long term care facilities, and indicated they would support Fairmount financially as they take on unavoidable extra costs.

“We are doing our best to fill out their financial surveys to show them we are spending more than they are providing and why that is happening. We are using some re-allocated funds from programs that we are not running because of COVID to offset some of those extra costs.

“Meanwhile we are getting back into the swing of budgeting for next year, “ she said, knowing that COVID-19 protocols will remain in place.

“We are still looking at some of the capital projects that need to be considered every year. We know the budget will represent our best guess next year, and we hope the province will support us. It’s all we can do.”

Unlike a number long term care facilities across the province, Fairmount and the other facilities in KFL&A have remained free of outbreaks so far, and Brant said the support from Public Health has been a big part of that success.

“They send teams in to do monthly audits, not to find fault but to point out the risks and make sure we are following protocols. It is a good relationship, not an adversarial one. And they have provided clear guidelines for the community. I can’t say enough about all they have done, for us and the community at large.”

Covid testing and monitoring has become a regular feature at Fairmount. All staff members at Fairmount, including administration staff, are tested every two weeks. They are also screened, including temperature checks, on the way in to work and on the way home as well.

“The testing gives us a level of comfort that we are not putting the residents at risk by being at work,” she said, “it is a big part of the puzzle.”

Even though her new role has meant working some extra hours, some nights and weekends, Susan Brant does not seem to regret taking on the challenge and responsibility of administering Fairmount Home.