CVS is going to be open.  Handi-Darts are on essential service only. Some staff are unable to make it in so staffing may be difficult – but we will make do. Please be careful with icy roads and sidewalks.  If you have any questions please call 604.218.8492.

It’s 2019 and the Community Ventures Society (CVS) is looking for new Board Members. Our current Board of Directors are an ideal mix of people who have adult children served by CVS and also professionals who bring their expertise to the Board. After many years of service some Board members are wanting to take a step back and create an opportunity for someone new.

CVS provides support and services to children and adults with developmental disabilities and their families.  We provide Foster Families, Summer Camps, Children\’s Respite, Life Skills, Community Inclusion, Employment, Specialized Children\’s Residential, Outreach, and Shared Living services. We have been serving the Tri-Cities since 1979.

To help ground our Board we are interested in people serving on the Board who have a loved one that is served by CVS. We feel that having family members on our Board of Directors makes us stronger and more connected to the people we serve with respect to our governance.

The commitment required of Board Members is as follows:

1. The Board of Directors will establish and approve all Governance policies of CVS.
2. Directors will attend Board of Director meetings (held the 4th Monday at 4:30 of each month except December, July, & August – we will feed you). Our AGM is in June before the Board Meeting.
3. Directors will read the Board Package in advance of the Board Meetings.
4. Directors must make every effort to become financially competent with respect to CVS Financials (we will help).

Board Members must act with integrity, honesty, and in good faith in the best interests of CVS  with our Vision, Mission, and Values as a guide.

If you are interested please contact our Nominations Committee Chair, Valerie Irving at [email protected].

We\’d like to introduce everyone across our community to our new HR Assistant, Karen Jorgenson. Karen will be working with Pete Stone as an important member of the Human Resources (HR) team, helping Pete with our HR processes and procedures.

Karen is originally from Vancouver and completed a Bachelor\’s degree at Simon Fraser University with a major in Communications and minor in Publishing. She has a range of experience in working in administrative and communication roles in the health care and finance industries in Vancouver and Toronto.

Karen started with CVS this past week on Wednesday, January 2nd. We welcome Karen\’s experience and are excited to have her as part of CVS. Please join us in welcoming her!

To kick off the New Year, we thought this story by Jennifer Overton was an inspirational one. It discusses her own experience with her son Nicholas who was diagnosed with autism at the age of three.

It takes us through the journey since Nicholas\’ diagnosis and how this changed her own approach to life. Overall, it made her a lot more calculated and as she puts it \”a card-carrying control freak\”. As her son grew up, she worked out plans of what would be best for him as an adult with autism. However, Nicolas\’ journey would end up different than Jennifer had planned.

In the end, giving her son the opportunity to exercise his own independence helped him grow as a person and it appears to have started a whole new chapter in Jennifer\’s life as well.

We would definitely suggest taking the time to read this article as it offers a genuine perspective from a parent\’s point of view. To read the complete article, click here.

An article published by the CBC highlighted that it is alleged that children and adults who lived at a provincially operated institution for Manitobans with intellectual disabilities suffered regular sexual and physical abuse for decades. Now, a $50-million lawsuit is being brought forth to the court against the province.

The claims include allegations that staff at the Manitoba Developmental Centre in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba beat residents, as well as allegations of resident-on-resident rape, food deprivation and the use of nudity as punishment.

The lawsuit, filed October 31st, has yet to be certified as a class action by a judge. It\’s intended to cover all living or recently living residents of the Manitoba Developmental Centre admitted after July 1, 1951.

David Weremy, a representative plaintiff in the lawsuit, says he experienced years of trauma at the facility, which included sexual abuse, physical assault and being confined naked in a room.

None of the claims have been proven in court.

A spokesperson for the Manitoba Justice Department said its lawyers have reviewed the statement of claim. The province declined to comment about the case because it is before the courts.

The Manitoba government has until January 29th, 2019, to file a statement of defence. Along with $50 million in punitive damages, the lawsuit seeks an admission from the province it was negligent in the operation, management and supervision of the Manitoba Developmental Centre.

\”People simply, at no point in time, at any point in the years past, should ever be living in these circumstances. Period,\” said Weremy\’s lawyer, David Rosenfeld, a partner with Toronto-based firm Koskie Minsky. The firm has represented other class actions against institutions, including one against the Huronia Regional Centre in Ontario, which led to a $35-million settlement.

The Manitoba Developmental Centre, which first opened in 1890, remains an active long-term care facility for more than 100 residents with intellectual disabilities. The 2018 operating budget for the facility is $29 million.

In the 1960s and 1970s, around 1,200 people lived at MDC. The numbers began to rapidly decline in the 1980s under Manitoba\’s Welcome Home initiative, which sought to help people with disabilities integrate back into the community. Today, the sprawling campus in the north end of Portage la Prairie — a small city about 85 kilometres west of Winnipeg — includes several multi-storey brick buildings, basketball hoops and shaded, outdoor picnic areas.

CBC asked for a tour of the facility but the province declined the request, to \”respect the privacy of our residents.\”

People First of Canada, a group that advocates for people with intellectual disabilities, has been campaigning for the closure of Manitoba Developmental Centre for nearly 30 years.

The allegations include physical and sexual abuse as well as starvation, the lawsuit alleges. ​Weremy said he and other residents were routinely underfed, especially at dinner time.

To read the full article, please click here. Community Ventures Society will follow this story closely as the lawsuit and investigation develops.

An interesting article about Tristan Lederman, a man born hydrocephalic who had cerebral palsy. He could not see, walk or do anything for himself, relying on his parents and at-home caregivers for all his needs.

However, like a lot of other young adults with extraordinary medical needs, his health took a turn last year. He developed rashes and suffered seizures. He wasn\’t eating and drinking. He slept more during the day and went to bed early in the evenings.

Tristan\’s mother said she\’d repeatedly tell the family doctor her son was constantly moaning and in pain. His mother noted that, \”I think Tristan was trying to tell us that he was on his way out,\” said Jenn Lederman. \”Tristan never cried but he … sometimes just burst into tears. I think he was very aware that he was going.\”

The Ledermans say they believed their 34-year-old son was dying, but the doctors wouldn\’t provide a diagnosis or prognosis. They say the doctors provided inadequate at-home palliative care to manage their son\’s pain right until his death on Oct. 8, 2017.

Tristan\’s case doesn\’t surprise advocates and experts who say his case illustrates some of the failures in both the health-care and education systems, which haven\’t prepared doctors, nurses and health-care professionals to care for severely disabled patients at the end of their lives.

By the time the family doctor agreed in late August 2017 that Tristan was dying, he brought in doctors who specialize in at-home palliative care. Their additional efforts to manage the pain, however, also failed, until a pain pump, which could have controlled his pain more closely, arrived shortly before his death.

Kyle Sue, a B.C. physician who works in both adult and pediatric palliative care, said Tristan\’s case is \”very symbolic and actually more common than any of us would like.\”

In the past, patients with severe developmental disabilities did not live to middle age, and were often institutionalized. Now that health care has improved, many like Tristan are living longer than ever before in their own communities. But doctors don\’t tend to see these patients in their practice and only some schools have adapted their core curriculums to include end-of-life care for patients with disabilities.

Canada is lagging behind other Western countries when it comes to palliative care for adults with severe disabilities, Sue said.

The United Kingdom has teams that are specifically trained in palliative care for adults with developmental disabilities. And they have outreach programs that spread to more rural places.

In May, the Ledermans filed a complaint with Ontario\’s College of Physicians and Surgeons — part of which deals with Tristan\’s doctors. The physicians have filed responses, but a decision by the college isn\’t expected for months.

The Ledermans are also lobbying the premier and health minister in an effort to improve palliative care at home for people with exceptional medical needs.

This is an interesting case to watch so we can see if there is any change in Ontario and if that will filter out to other parts of Canada, including here in B.C.