© OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER

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duly 3, 1992 88 pages

Office, Editorial 985-2131

Fairway Place licence pulled
after abuse allegations made

A PRIVATELY-operated group-care home housing five
mentally-ill adults was shut down last Friday when a North
Shore Health licensing worker accompanied by North
Vancouver RCMP pulled the licence at Fairway Place in

Deep Cove.

The move followed a three-
month investigation by health of-
ficials. The investigation deter-
mined group home operator Lydia
Jaworsky breached terms of of
her Iicence. Allegations of verbal
abuse on the part of Jaworsky,
based on information brought
forward to North Shore Health by
the North Shore Community
Mental Health Centre, sparked the
investigation.

But said Jaworsky’s lawyer
Fhilip Nerland, ‘‘The local board
hadn’t even notified my client of
the decision. They wandered in
and disrupted the home without
notice. We're reviewing the matter
for appeal.””

Added Nerland, ‘‘There’s a
hidden: agenda here. They want to
close down the boarding homes, [
suspect, and they want to put in
non-profits so they can take the
profit motive out of that arca of
the health-care system."”

Hours after the licence was
physically removed a: Fairway
Place, North Shore Community
Menta! Health Centre (NSCMHC)
community residence worker
Lillian Toews, NSCMHC director
Rosalind Baitzer Turje and Barney
Usborne, coordinator of the
community residential program
for Mental Health Services Fraser
Valley-North Shore Region, ar-
rived to remove the five residents
of the home.

Fairway Place acting person-
in-charge Olga Szabo said long-
term residents at the home were
“shocked"’ by the closure. ‘‘For
the last few months they were
stable — they didn’t- know what
was going on,"’ Szabo said.

Said Jaworksy, ‘‘One was cry-
ing, running up and down the
driveway, extremely ‘disoriented.
One went to hide in his closet,

By Michael Becker
News Reporter

white as a ghost. He said, ‘Mrs.
Jaworksy, I’m afraid, I’m
frightened.’ ’

But said Usborne at the scene,
“There were various alleged
breaches of regulations. This is
what the board examined over a
very lengthy hearing. They drew
the conclusion that the breaches
were valid and they made a deci-
sion.

“Because the ficence was physi-
cally removed this morning, then
mental health services as the fund-
ing body has no choice but to
terminate funding because you
can’t fund a facility that’s not
licensed. Our responsibility is to
offer alternate accommodation for
the residents. if they choose to
take it we make the arrange-
ments,"" he added.

Two of thé Fairway Place resi-
dents were taken to a_ mental
health services emergency shelter
in New Westminster. ‘They'll be
there for a week or two until
other accommodation can be
found on the North Shore,”
Usborne said.

Lydia Jaworsky has worked
with mentally-ill adults for 15
years. She bought a house on
Fairway Drive and opened the
Fairway Place group home in
1986. The facility provided six
beds for mentally-ill adults fund-
ed by the Ministry of Health.

Jaworsky said she became a
50% owner of Sherwood Place, a
nine-bed group home opened in
North Vancouver in 1987, after
being advised by Usborne that
provincial money was available

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Quay party

SEVEN-MONTH-OLD Alexander Shkuratoff gets into the s

pirit of things at Lonsdale Quay.

North Vancouver's Canada Day committee hosted a full afternoon of evenis in celebration of

the nation’s 125th birthday on Wednesday.