You would think the Community Care Access Centres would tread a little carefully these days. The Tories want to get rid of them. The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario would like to fold them into the LHINs. We’re creeping into the time of year where budgets run out and home care patients get left in the lurch, particularly around rehabilitation. It’s generally not a fun time for the CCACs.
The CEOs might be enjoying their day a little less this morning after Bob Hepburn’s column in the Toronto Star. It left our spoons hovering above the Cornflakes.
Hepburn contends that the leadership at the CCACs have been handsomely rewarding themselves with lavish increases while applying restraint to the front line workers. Maybe it’s a last hurrah before it all ends?
Hepburn points to two examples – Cathy Szabo, CEO of the Central CCAC who saw her salary jump by 50 per cent from 2009 to 2012, and Melody Miles, CEO of the Hamilton-Niagara-Haldimand-Brant CCAC who gave herself a 24 per cent increase over the same period. For Szabo, her wage jumped $91,000 to $270,734. For Miles, her wage jumped during the same period by nearly $53,000 to $265,949.
The information comes from the sunshine list, which we always caution fails to give the full picture, including if the executives worked the full year covered under the report.
We decided to look at the rest of the list. Among CCAC CEOs, you have to really feel for North Simcoe Muskoka CCAC chief William Innes. Back in 2009 he reported earnings of $224,890. For the last two years it has been $199,877.
Central East’s Don Ford is the lowest paid CCAC CEO today. It’s true his kid’s likely didn’t go hungry with earnings of $180,769 in 2012, but the man has not had a raise since the economy took a dump in 2009. In 2009 Ford’s reported earnings on the sunshine list were $181,953. His taxable benefits are also far lower than many of his counterparts at $761.02 in 2012 (by comparison Catherine Szabo received $11,723 in taxable benefits). He’s at the bottom of the provincial heap.
Szabo and Miles draw down some of the biggest incomes among CCAC executives province-wide, but the biggest winner in 2012 was former deputy minister Margaret Mottershead, who was then the CEO of the Ontario Association of Community Care Access Centres (and now she’s gone). Some may wonder why a small group of 14 CCACs needs an association, but we’ll leave that alone for now. Mottershead’s reported compensation for 2012 was $318,322, up slightly less than $5,000 from the year before. That would be a 1.5 per cent increase for anybody lacking a calculator.
One has to wonder about the big difference in compensation for the CCAC CEOs in the North West and the North East. The North East is the rich cousin, Richard Joly earning $248,142 in 2012, up from $227,710 in 2009. To the west poor ‘ol Tuija Puiras is earning nearly $40,000 less at $208,774 in 2012. That’s still an increase of more than $35,000 from 2009.
Wellington Waterloo has had a succession of CEOs at the helm. In 2011 Kevin Mercer earned $243,206, but after consultants Corpus Sanchez reported that the Wellington Waterloo CCAC suffered from the “failure of leadership at the highest levels,” Mercer departed in 2012 taking with him a total of $493,785 in salary and severance. Back in 2009 David Murray was at the helm and received $227,994.
Mary Elizabeth Kuchta, CEO of the Erie-St. Clair CCAC did take a freeze between 2011 and 2012, stuck at $220,751 per year. Back in 2009 she earned $169,191 – so it’s not been that much of a hardship.
Back when Sheila Bauer was in charge of the Champlain CCAC, she was earning $190,752 in 2009. Today Gilles Lanteigne runs the place and takes home nearly $60,000 more at $258,685 for 2012.
Catherine Hecimovich wasn’t terribly moved to restraint between 2011 and 2012 when as Central West CEO she received an increase of 7.6 per cent, or more than $18,000 annually, bringing her to $243,159.
Caroline Brereton held her salary increase to 1.2 per cent between 2011 and 2012, but her $229,895 is an improvement over what Vida Vaitonis earned as CEO of the Mississauga Halton CCAC in 2009: $194,230.
Jacqueline Redmond came up through the ranks at the South East CCAC. Last year the CCAC rewarded her with roughly an 8.5 per cent increase taking her compensation up to $220,000 and a few cents. When David Marshall was in charge in 2009, his reported salary was $174,462 before taxable benefits.
That may look modest compared to Sandra Coleman, a long time stalwart leading the South West CCAC. Coleman received $267,400 in 2012, up by more than $17,000 from the previous year. Back in 2009 she was earning $217,586. That’s almost a $50,000 raise in just four years.
Camille Orridge left the Toronto Central CCAC to lead the Local Health Integration Network. Back in 2009 she was earning $188,419. Stacey Daub is now in charge and in 2012 earned $232,517 according to the sunshine list. Despite having the most heavily populated region, Daub is well behind many of her regional counterparts in the compensation she receives. We can’t feel too sorry for Orridge — in 2102 she recorded compensation of $290,000 from the LHIN.
The point of all this is to point out that the province’s restraint policy is biting the front line workers but hardly any of those at the top. There are a few that have practiced what they preach – including Ford and Innes – but clearly others feel a sense of entitlement that, shall we say, others may not appreciate.
For those that are into this kind of thing, the 2014 sunshine list (representing earnings for 2013) usually comes out in late March.
Tomorrow we’ll look at Hepburn’s recommendation to sweep away the CCACs and give their function to the LHINs. Will it streamline home care, or will it simply amalgamate organizations with two very different purposes?
OPSEU Diablogue 
Just a point of correction. Margaret Mottershead left the OACCAC awhile back, replaced by Dan Burns as CEO. Dan has now been replaced by Catherine Brown effective January 13, 2014. You can expect a bunch of partial years on sunshine lists, and perhaps buried bonus payouts. So, a bit confusing to interpret the numbers.
Oh you can fold the CCACs into the LHINs but the executive compensation would have to go to someone with the skill set to run a large community health care organization. This is a much better situation than when the CCACs numbered 42…all with their own executive. And the Tories? I have no idea what they are thinking.
Interesting to see the CCAC folks defending themselves. 42 to 14 yes but how dare they fatten their wallets on the backs of staff and patients. This is a system that badly needs a visit from the Provincial Auditor.
yet the front line nurses that are desperately needed earn almost 15.00 less than their counterparts in hospitals. This is why they can not keep nurses and why the burn out rate for these nurses is so high.The hours expected for these home care nurse are scheduled 12 hours that can turn into and easy 16 to 18 hour days and this does not count the paperwork done when they get home.
I am a community nurse in the northeast region. All I can say is “disgusting”. We are told to discharge our patients, even before the completion of a care plan. Wounds not healed yet, because the CCAC here is over budget. Gee, I wonder why. The CCAC reply to not yet healed wounds (for example)….”If there is a problem, tell them to make an appointment to see their Physician”. REALLY? I can say, if any of these “noble leaders” have family members in need, there would be no “tell them to see their Physician”.
I like what you guys are up too. This kind of clever work and exposure!
Keep up the great works guys I’ve you guys to
blogroll.
You’re so interesting! I do not believe I’ve read through something like
this before. So wonderful to find another person with some
unique thoughts on this issue. Seriously.. thanks for starting this up.
This site is one thing that is needed on the internet, someone with some originality!
Once again – too much bureaucracy and too few feet on the ground!
The cream at the top is sucking the life out of the operation. We all need the nurses – it’s time the pyramid was turned upside down to let the country’s residents experience the care they need from the people most qualified to give them that care.
do we know if their mexico trip is hidden in a meeting ?? and paid for . we cannot believe the lack of caring at the top….its all about their employment..
Some of you are confusing visiting nurses with CCAC case managers. CM are directed by those high paying CEOs both try to provide the care needed within the restraints of their budgets.
We need less government/bureaucracy.
I am a care coordinator and feel very strongly that if the public sector has a wage freeze, then the executive management team should not be having an increase in their salaries. Unfortunately the salaries of the executive team and senior management continue to rise in astronomical percentages. We the front line care coordinators in the home are continually faced with budget pressures and reduction and/or discontinuation of services, yet our managent team benefits in the way of bonuses if their budget comes in below target. The money is not being spent on patient care, rather going to line the pockets of management. Often funds are also spent on projects, yet the actual materialization of the outcome of the projects are never implemented. Care coordinators often work extremely long hours in excess of 10 hrs 5 days/week however only paid for 7 hrs 5 days/week. We do this for the sole purpose of ensuring that the patient and their families are cared for, yet it is never compensated by the employer in either a monetary value or even a simple thank you. The expectations continue to grow, the funds continue to pay for management salaries, services continue to be reduced, hospitals are discharging more acutely ill patients to unsafe situations, yet us front line workers continue to not receive any respect and fairness from the employer. This strike needs to end, but not before the employer is held accountable for the waste of health care dollars which have been used to inflate their salaries and also not before the employer agree’s to work with the union and provide a contract that is fair and reasonable and demonstrates the value of us care coordinators who are all regulated health care professionals.
I am a Homecare R.N. working Central CCAC. As a Homecare Nurse we make considerably less than our hospital counterparts & a whole lot less than CCAC Case Managers, many of who are not Nurses. We in the community have not had a raise in 5 years, again that is governed by CCAC. And as someone said earlier our problems are many. Palliative patients don’t die fast enough we have to fight with Case Managers to keep the equipment, We are told to discharge before we feel the patient is ready to be discharged. Along the same lines we see patients because their Doc wants their Blood Pressures checked or they need a B12 shot & don’t have time to get to the Doctors. There are many issues that need to be fixed & I don’t think it ever will be.