A non-profit hammered in a recent Fraser Health audit for shortcomings at its group homes for the mentally ill is firing back, saying the audit was poorly timed and its biggest challenge is inadequate funding from the health authority.
The audit found Pioneer Community Living Association, which runs seven group homes in Burnaby and New Westminster, did not spend enough money on food for clients, failed to ensure all employees had criminal record checks, did not maintain adequate staffing levels, did not consistently update client recovery plans and lacked basic fire safety.
The findings were featured in a recent article in the Globe and Mail, which obtained the March 2015 audit report through a Freedom of Information request.
But executive director Mark Johns, who started working on the audit after only two weeks on the job, said it was poorly timed and doesn’t accurately reflect the quality of service provided by his organization, where he said inadequate funding continues to be the biggest challenge.
“We run a quality service on a shoe string, basically, and it’s amazing, the dedication of our staff and the dedication of the parents and families of people that help to keep us going,” he said.
Johns said many of the high-risk findings from the audit were the result of poor bookkeeping, not poor service, and an executive director with more time in the organization would have helped produce a more accurate report.
“I’m not trying to hide anything,” he said. “Yes, there’s areas that we could do better, but we do a quality service here, and our successes speak for themselves.”
Fraser Health seems to agree.
Pioneer has worked with the health authority – its primary funder – for more than 15 years, and officials say they have never had concerns about the non-profit’s services.
“They’re very good providers,” Fraser Health mental health director Meryl McDowell told the NOW. “We’ve been happy with the care they’ve provided our clients.”
McDowell maintained the audit – the first of its kind in more than 15 years for Pioneer – was accurate but Fraser Health has “made significant progress since then in understanding the findings” with more information from Pioneer.
She went on to say the health authority is happy with Pioneer’s response to the audit and the actions the non-profit has taken.
Pioneer, which grew out of the Riverview Volunteer Society in the early 1980s, has helped thousands of people battling mental illness and addiction to reintegrate into the communities of New Westminster and Burnaby through transitional housing, according to Johns.
But his organization struggles with inadequate funding, he said.
The audit, which covered the fiscal year 2013/14, found Pioneer was running a deficit despite maintaining minimal administrative costs and not always keeping up minimum staffing levels or spending all of its food budgets.
“We have probably for the last five years run this program at a deficit and have continually tried to work with Fraser Health around our funding, because they’re our major funder, to get the finances a little bit more in line,” Johns said.
A major factor in recent years has been Pioneer’s success as an employer, according to the non-profit’s president, Roseanne Rothenberg.
She said staff that started more than 30 years ago have stayed with the organization and moved up the pay scale, and some have recently retired and received sick-leave payouts and retirement bonuses as per their collective agreement.
Fraser Health’s staffing model, however, is based on employee salaries in the medium range and doesn’t factor in such costs, Rothenberg said.
Fraser Health finance manager Colleen Donato told the Burnaby NOW that Pioneer is funded fairly.
When asked if the health authority’s standardized staff-funding model was working for Pioneer, however, she said, “In the last year, probably with the timing of some of their expenses, no. Going forward, it should work for them.”
The audit also recommended Pioneer improve its bottom line with spending cuts and fundraising, but Johns and Rothenberg said there’s no place left to cut.
“We asked (Fraser Health) that,” Rothenberg said. “‘Where would you like us to cut?’ And there’s no place that we can cut, and they know that. I believe that they’re not in a position, because of what they’re dictated by the government to cut expenses, to give us anything more.”
As for fundraising, Rothenberg said Pioneer doesn’t have the staff resources or the money to hire a professional.
“Our energies are focused more into contract work,” she said. “(Fundraising) is not an area that we’ve ever know or are proficient in. The need over the last three years has dictated that we start learning.”
Pioneer won’t be getting any help from Fraser Health in the form of increased funding for administration, though.
“At this point, we are not helping them,” Donato said. “Unfortunately we cannot.”
