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stoufiville suntribune thursday dec 16 2004 9 clients shocked chats lost seniors care contract by chris traber staff writer shirley bohme is one of the lucky ones the veteran community home assistance to seniors per sonal support worker is one of 120 employees who will keep their jobs after the nonprofit agency lost its contract to provide home care services in york region the lost contract translates into more than 300 job losses 500000 in immediate severance payouts and 21 million in unre coverable revenue chats execu tive director deborah egan said but for people such bohme it means more i will miss my colleagues and those i took care of she said cry ing some of my clients have been with me for 11 years one 90yearold client said that i can read her mind and ifs so wonder ful that shes used to me i heard from her family theyre very sad the nonprofit aurora agency provided more than 5a00 york clients with home care home- making personal support and caregiver relief services but learned last month it was not selected to provide inhome serv ices through the regions the community care access centre five private businesses were awarded 39month contracts to provide services in a request for service process conducted by the ccac on behalf of the ministry of health and longterm care the effect after a 25year performance record of continu ous quality service in the region is unbelievable ms egan said this impacts beyond staff our clients their family care givers and our volunteers are in com plete shock when we had to hand out layoff notices we had to hand out boxes of tissues we are all devastated that includes client brita mickleburgh a retired teacher in newmarket many of the other seniors will be desperate she said instead of the trusted and familiar person who provided the services we need therell be a stranger clients have heard nothing from the ccac about how home care services will be provided once the changes are made all i can say is if it isnt bro ken why fix it the new services are all profit companies chats was nonprofit i think the gov ernment is being penny wise and dollar foolish ms mickleburgh said peggy mcgibbon is one of staff photochris traber chats executive director deborah egan from left with staffers shirley bohme peggy mcgibbon maria orzolek and lisa wauchope this is no consideration of performance track record its subjective ms egan said chats laid off service supervi sors a week before the holidays she is looking for a job im devastated she said the concern isnt just for me its for my fellow workers and the clients we supervise seven days a week many families are very upset maria orzolek a support as authorized by shiner kideckelzweig inc inventory has been augmented to offer better selection kara jewetters l 1 10k14k gold m m ill l i iii tennis bracelets rings bangles earrings pendants watches list 11 worker will remain with chats the agency will provide home care out side the ccac system at an unsubsidized hourly rate of 2250 existing services such as meals on wheels and transporta tion will also continue my concern is for the clients ms orzolek said they are elderly they dont understand we are a big part of their lives and most of therh are very upset theyre frail and each would speak up if they could training and develop ment coordinator lisa wauchope a chats employee since 1998 will also stay its an absolute shock she said battling tears we understand we cant go back and change the decision but thou sands of individuals have had the rug pulled out from underneath them it impacts not only clients chats was prepared to lose some of its work with the ccac in the bid ding process ms egan said the issue is that there had been no indication that we were not meeting standards we were recog nized as being a leader in our sector and the ques tion that arises across the province is whether in fact the proposal process reflects your ability to write a proposal or your ability to deliver care she said this is no considera tion of performance track record ifs subjective you are evaluated on whatyou put on paper what you say in an interview and your price chats received an evaluation score of 857 per cent ms egan said that wasnt good enough for us to get a contract she said of all the bidders we were the largest organization and provided approximately 40 per cent of all the per sonal support and home- making services in the region many families are very upset peggy mcgibbon laid off chats supervisor due to confidentiality agreements ccac execu tive director bill innes would not discuss the chats bid specifically the proposal process followed a format devel oped by the health ministry the 42 ontario centres and legal counsel he said the template was designed to treat all qual ified respondents equally and fairly and there were no rules specific to exist ing providers although this process is currently under review the ccac decided to go forward with selecting its service providers mr innes said former mp elinor caplan is expected to table her review of the process next april health minister george smith- erman announced the competitive process would continue during her review ms caplan was present during the early stages of the evaluation process at the ccac mr innes said ms caplan stated at the november 2004 board meeting that in her opinion the ccac ofyork region completed the process according to min istry policy and with great integrity he said it is our hope that the chats organization will continue to be a service provider to residents of york region and that all efforts of both organiza tions will be directed toward a successful and positive transition and ongoing working relation ship mr innes said in a statement ms egan is asking resi dents to express their con cerns to provincial politi cians wed like the commu nity to spend just three minutes at this busy time of year and call their mpe if we dont have the com munitys support our voice is hollow chats hotline is 905-713- 6596 mmssit marketgives town character bbbbwbmwmmmt b from page l the market was originally on th kara jewellers upper canada mall newmarket closing december 24 entury services inc terms cash inerac viva mastercard american express orangeville mall orangeville coot in from said its not coming from california as well vendors often refer shop pers to businesses and restaurants in town this is traditionally a farming community ms hilton said and the market brings the farming character into stouffville the market was originally on the brown farmthe brown house is now at the whitchurchstouffville museum in vandoif mr clements bought the market in the mid1980s through the years there have been livestock auctions in the old building constructed in 1952 it was torn down about two years ago a new building was erected about 10 years ago