Province obtains court order to recover $144K from agency for client hotel stays
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The Alberta government is trying to recover nearly $144,000 in costs from the social service agency that made headlines last year for having its clients placed in hotel rooms after they were discharged from hospital.
The province obtained a judgment against the Contentment Social Services Foundation in March after making numerous attempts to contact people involved with the agency last fall.
Alberta's former ministry of seniors, community and social Services, now known as Assisted Living and Social Services, outlined the costs in a statement of claim filed in November.
They include $82,730 owed to the Park Inn by Radisson in Leduc for room bookings, additional costs and damages, $42,908 to Mainstreet Equity Corporation for apartments the agency rented for clients and $14,569 for Meals on Wheels, which was contracted after the government found clients at the hotel.
Contentment Social Services did not file a statement of defence in response.
The court judgment also includes costs incurred by the law firm contracted by the government and the process server during the attempts to find officials from Contentment Social Services.
CBC News first reported in March 2024 how a stroke patient who was discharged from the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton was placed in a hotel room instead of the long-term care facility he thought he was going to. His wife said he had difficulties getting to the washroom in his wheelchair and that he was being fed fast food.
The province stepped in to help 39 people under the care of Contentment Social Services find appropriate places to live.
The Alberta government conducted investigations into the matter and evidence of possible criminal fraud was forwarded to Edmonton Police.
In March, Shum Shabat Yousouf, the former director of Contentment Social Services, was charged with fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000.
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