Blindsided by program’s end, ex-co-ordinator moves forward

It’s been nearly a week since the now-former co-ordinator of the Community Against Family Violence (CAFV) program revealed that her program would end and she would be out of a job.

Sandy Pitzel headed up the program for a decade before she was served with her layoff notice on Sept. 12. Her employer, the Co-operative Health Centre, decided to shift resources from the CAFV program to an adult support worker position that would focus on elder abuse. Her program would come to an end Oct. 10.

The position that replaced Pitzel’s came out of a proposal she had helped to work on. She said there had been talk about somehow trying to go forward with that position. But then executive director Renee Danylczuk asked to meet with Pitzel and her manager.

“When I went, I thought I’d be just discussing the changes in programming or something, [be]cause that’s what she said, she said we’re just going to be talking about something to do with programming … So, I knew, if you get called and you’re told you’re going to be talking to two managers you figure, ‘OK there’s something going on,’” Pitzel said.

“I didn’t expect that I would be served [a] layoff notice and, you know, there’s nothing ready.”

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Pitzel said the Health Centre would be moving forward with the elder abuse position, but at the time, they didn’t have a job description ready. She feels the newly created position doesn’t replace all of the work her former position was responsible for.

In her role as the CAFV’s co-ordinator, Pitzel’s focus was on working to educate students and the community about violence against women, on initiatives with the province and federal governments.

Starting in 2006, Pitzel was a part of a committee working to research the elder abuse support worker position.  Pitzel worked with three other women, including her mother, Julie, who she said knew a lot about the issues that seniors and elders face.

The committee also came up with recommendations with job descriptions, she said. They recommended two positions, a co-ordinator and a counselling position.

“It is true,” she said, with a light laugh, “they had us research and do all this work and I actually delivered, along with those three committee members, we delivered education about protocol, like how do you handle reports of elder abuse, so, I helped with the education on that along with the other women.”

“So, yeah, we did a lot of the groundwork … we did everything. It’s kind of set out for them now.”

On Sept. 24, she drafted a letter breaking the news about her departure and the cancellation of the CAFV. Her former middle manager alleged she broke media protocol when she disclosed that news publicly.

But Pitzel said with her program, she had always had free access to the media. “I didn’t have to have anything authorized when I was speaking to [the] media.”

She said the Health Centre’s media protocol stated it was to vet the posters they produced. The posters have to go through a media committee. Management started this process a few years ago, she said, so they created a protocol.

And that’s the policy Pitzel’s manager brought to her attention on her last day of work.

“It was never applied as far as being interviewed by media, talking to media, about my program, it’s never applied,” Pitzel said she told her manager. She said her manager didn’t say too much in response afterwards.

On Tuesday, her former employer, the Co-operative Health Centre broke its own media silence, issuing a statement. The health centre acknowledged they would “reallocate resources” to establish the elder abuse adult support worker position.

Danylczuk was unavailable for comment, citing her schedule. “I think the release provides all the important information,” she wrote in an email to paNOW.

The statement acknowledged the leadership provided by Pitzel over her 10-year tenure co-ordinating the CAFV program.

Despite what transpired over the last few weeks, Pitzel, a mother of three teenagers, is maintaining a positive outlook. While she has told her children they’d be eating out less often, she has already lined up contract work, one day a week with a local community.

“I guess I’m always hopeful about things, even when it comes to my work,” Pitzel said, adding the position is in an area she loves to work in.

Reflecting on her work, Pitzel expressed her pride in the work she did with community groups over the years. And they have recognized her contributions, calling her with well-wishes and offers of support.

“It just feels good knowing that I did make change happen, that we did progress along the way.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames