Penticton Western News Friday, November 23, 2012
www.pentictonwesternnews.com
A3
news
Interior Health closes care home Joe Fries Western News Staff
Money problems have now forced a Penticton long-term care home out of business. Interior Health last Friday closed the 20-bed Lakeside Care Residence and moved the three people living there to other facilities in the city. “It wasn’t anything bad. It wasn’t anything to do with the care of residents,” said a former manager, who asked to remain anonymous because she wasn’t authorized to speak about the situation. “It was all about doing business.” In May, Interior Health notified the facility’s owner, Brewster Healthcare Group, that it would not renew its licence next spring due to concerns about the company’s financial viability. The home had 12 residents as of August, but an interim condition was also placed on the licence that forbid Lakeside from accepting new clients, and that hastened its demise, the manager said. “Obviously there are financial issues when you don’t have that many residents,” the manager said. “Financially with three people? Do the math. It won’t work.” Interior Health finally cancelled the licence last Friday due to “concerns with staff (members) having appropriate tools and supplies to do their jobs,” and their “ongoing ability to continue to provide care,” said Gretchen Komick, the authority’s acting assistant director of health protection. Komick said she couldn’t disclose the nature of those concerns, but noted it had nothing to do with the employees’ performance. “I just want to make sure it’s clear we didn’t have an issue with staff that were on site,” she added. Brewster Healthcare Group owner John Brewster did not return calls for comment this week. He told the Western News in August that the dispute with Interior Health arose because he was unwilling to comply with the authority’s requests for financial information pertaining to
Mark Brett/Western News
The LaKeside Care resideNCe was closed last Friday by interior health and residents moved to other facilities in the city.
his unrelated business interests, and that he had a deal in place to sell the facility on Oct. 1, contingent upon the new owner obtaining a licence from Interior Health. Komick said the new licence was not approved due to a “lack of sufficient information,” and the applicant then withdrew from the process last week. Eleven people were employed at the site when it closed and their job prospects look good, the former manager said,
“because we have such a good reputation as staff.” The manager is uncertain what will become of the Warren Avenue care home, although Brewster said in August he was considering converting it to an assisted-living facility because it would have less onerous licensing requirements. Brewster also owned the 16-bed Lakeside Care Residence in Vernon, which closed this fall when the company defaulted on its mortgage and the property went into receivership.
Killer awaits sentencing after surprise guilty plea Kathy Michaels Black Press
A Penticton man who admitted to murdering an 85-year-old woman in 2006 could be up for parole in five years. Cory Wolf Swite, 26, was initially convicted of first-degree murder for smothering and then having sex with an elderly Penticton woman in March 2009, but that conviction was set aside by the court of appeal earlier this year due to concerns with the jury. A retrial got underway in Kelowna this month, but in a surprise twist Swite pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of second-degree murder. While both convictions carry a minimum
sentence of 25 years, parole eligibility with the lesser charge is more flexible. Crown counsel Rob Bruneau asked the judge for a 15-year minimum sentence, while defence lawyer Kevin McCullough suggested 10 years. Swite was arrested for the crime in 2007, and the years he’s spent in prison would be used against that total, meaning there’s a possibility for parole in 2017. McCullough suggested the lesser sentence would be more fitting, when the Gladue decision was accounted for. The Gladue decision states: “All available sanctions other than imprisonment that are reasonable in the circumstances should be considered for all offenders, with particu-
lar attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders.” And Swite’s particular circumstances, said McCullough, were particularly egregious. Not only was he an alcoholic with the mental acuity of a child when he committed the crime, Swite also was imbedded in a violent community with few resources. Swite, he told the judge, was a member of the Penticton Indian Band and in the months leading to the crime, he had not only lost his mother to her alcoholism, he was witness to one of the city’s most violent crimes. During a 2004 bush party, his cousin Dustin Paul killed three men and wounded two others, many of whom were Swite’s
family. Paul, said McCullough, actually shot fatal blasts from his gun from a vantage point behind Swite, deafening him in one ear and putting him front and centre for the grisly crime. None of these events placed Swite in good stead moving forward, it was argued in court Tuesday, and that should be weighed into sentencing, regardless of the severity of the crime. According to previous court records, Swite broke in to Olive Hill’s apartment to steal cigarettes and money, but when she awoke he smothered her with a pillow and had sex with her after she stopped breathing. Swite will be sentenced Friday.
Instant
CASH FOR GOLD 496 MAIN STREET Downtown Penticton
(250) 487-1192 Open 7 Days A Week
Bring your Gold... Leave with CASH!