Former Lighthouse executive director returns to Saskatoon facility

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A person who was beforehand eliminated as government director of the Lighthouse Supported Residing Inc. by a Saskatoon choose has apparently made a return to the non-profit’s downtown facility.

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Carmen Schick, a longtime Lighthouse resident, confirmed Wednesday that Don Windels has been seen repeatedly within the constructing since no less than final week, and gave the impression to be again in cost.

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“We’re undecided how; we will’t determine it out as a result of we will’t query anyone on how Don Windels received his place again on the Lighthouse as government director,” she stated.

Windels has appealed Justice David Gerecke’s Dec. 6, 2021 decision to take away him as government director after an investigation into private loans discovered the non-profit’s monetary preparations concerned “an overarching tradition of co-mingling private pursuits with the pursuits of the Lighthouse.”

Gerecke additionally ordered Windels barred for no less than two years from his prior positions on the Lighthouse, and Lighthouse-affiliated company Blue Mountain Journey Park.

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Andrew Mason, a lawyer representing Windels in his attraction, stated these orders have all been stayed pending the outcomes of the attraction, which means Windels wouldn’t at present be in violation of a court docket order by coming again.

In the middle of makes an attempt to succeed in Windels for touch upon Wednesday, entrance desk employees on the Lighthouse appeared unsurprised when requested if he was accessible, and responded to a request to go away a message by transferring the decision to an unidentified voice mailbox. That decision was not returned by publication deadline. Earlier messages left for Windels via different channels in current days have additionally obtained no response.

Schick stated Lighthouse employees appear to have been “gagged” in terms of answering questions on Windels’s return.

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“No one’s too positive, as a result of no person’s allowed to say something,” she stated.

Calls and emails to Lighthouse staffers made previous to publication of this story have gone unanswered.

Lighthouse board president and chair Jerome Hepfner and vice-president Twila Reddekopp grew to become interim managing administrators after the board voted to droop Windels with pay in January 2022. The Lighthouse web site nonetheless lists Windels as suspended from his place as government director since Jan. 18, 2022. Neither Hepfner or Reddekopp  have responded to requests for remark.

Schick stated she hasn’t seen a lot change within the day-to-day routine on the Lighthouse within the days since Windels got here again, however she’s involved that might change. She stated she’s been informed that health-care employees gained’t be working on the constructing by the top of March.

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“Outreach, addictions counsellors, psych nurses, our medical doctors — we’re going to lose all that on the finish of March if we will’t determine methods to repair it,” she stated.

“With out these companies, this constructing will flip into chaos,” she added, saying she’s involved there gained’t be sufficient employees left to adequately monitor and take care of the residents.

Colleen Quinlan, government director of psychological well being and addictions with the SHA’s built-in city well being unit, informed Postmedia in an emailed assertion that planning for the discontinuation of companies on the Lighthouse started in June 2022, across the similar time the province introduced it might reallocate emergency shelter funding away from the Lighthouse. The emergency shelter portion of provincial funding was ultimately transferred to the Salvation Military and the Saskatoon Tribal Council.

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“The SHA has been discontinuing its service agreements with Lighthouse since June 2022 as directed by authorities primarily based on its issues associated to the administration of the power. All public funding is predicted to be discontinued by this spring,” she wrote.

Quinlan added that the provincial authorities and the SHA are working with different organizations and group companions to make sure all of the companies which were supplied on the Lighthouse stay accessible to these in want.  She famous that 24 folks supported by the SHA have already been moved out of the constructing and linked with different organizations to get ongoing help and programming

Quinlan additionally identified that the SHA “has no management or enter into day-to-day administration” of the Lighthouse, or its staffing. She stated the SHA is making an attempt to honour its agreements whereas fulfilling the federal government’s purpose of ending its involvement with the group, all whereas making certain sufferers are stored protected.