The Nov. 8 death of a New Visions resident following a car crash on Krumkill Road has led to allegations of managerial cover-ups, worker intimidation, and chronic understaffing.

The allegations are completely untrue, says Andrew McKenzie, the executive director of New Visions, formerly known as the Albany ARC and a chapter of the New York State Association for Retarded Citizens.

Both his staff and the group home residents have been mourning the death of Mabel Speanburg, said McKenzie this week.

However, some workers say that accidents at New Visions may be the result of understaffing, long overtime hours, and inexperienced relief workers, and they contend that working conditions have gotten progressively worse as the facility has expanded.
McKenzie said yesterday that his organization, which is celebrating its 55th year, chooses competent relief workers from a "healthy list" of candidates and that being in the Capital Region, New Visions has a large labor market to draw from, unlike other NYSARC chapters around the state.

He also said New Visions does not allow overtime abuse and has caps on working hours.

New Visions has about 450 employees to serve a little over 600 clients in 22 group homes and 30 apartments as well as in a day facility. Clients are transported in 68 company vehicles. New Visions is the largest employer in Slingerlands, said McKenzie.

A former assistant director of a group home, Nory Turner, told The Enterprise she recently quit working at New Visions after being "forced out."

Turner, who holds a master’s degree in social work from the College of Saint Rose, had worked for New Visions for a little less than three years; she also works during the day as a teacher, she said.

Turner said her group-home hours were switched to the daytime due to managerial differences, even though her bosses knew that she could not work those hours.
She said quitting was a hard decision and that her residents "were like family." She said she still worries about them every day, but that she quit because the organization was getting "worse and worse."
"They just put in relief workers without any proper training or experience," said Turner. "It is a very huge problem"It’s not safe," she continued, saying the relief workers are not familiar with the different residents’ needs at the different homes.

McKenzie responded through The Enterprise by saying that relief staff are safe and reliable workers who love their jobs and do not perform specialized care such as medicating the residents, which requires more stringent training.

Hoping to further investigate the allegations and get feedback on the situation, McKenzie has asked that people with any information contact him, adding that they can remain anonymous. All communication will be held in confidentiality, he said.

The accident

Speanburg was a passenger in one of two New Visions vans leaving the main facility on Krumkill Road, when her van collided with the New Visions van in front of hers after it stopped abruptly, according to police.
Bethlehem Police say that, on Nov. 6, at approximately 3:21 p.m., they assisted an ambulance on Krumkill Road after they received a call that stated "a 60-year-old woman fell out of her wheelchair inside an assisted van."

Mary Cox of the Bethlehem Police said no written report was filed because no tickets were issued at the accident.

The Western Turnpike Rescue Squad, which covers North Bethlehem, responded to the accident and transported Speanburg to St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany.
"We treated her for lacerations and for a possible head injury," said Howard Huth, chief of operations for the rescue squad.

According to Albany City Hall’s vital statistics department, Speanburg died two days later, on Nov. 8, at St. Peter’s Hospital.

The hospital would not release details of Speanburg’s injury or her death to The Enterprise.
Her funeral was arranged by New Comer-Cannon Family Funeral Home in Colonie, and the on-line obituary posted on the funeral home’s website states, "Mabel enjoyed drawing, music and the joy of being pampered. She has many dear friends and peers that will miss her terribly. Mabel was a favorite of so many that have come to know and love her through the years."

The obituary also says that Speanburg, 60, was a longtime participant at Hillside House in Coeymans Inc., and that she had been attending New Vision’s day program for several years.

She was buried on Monday, Nov. 13, it says, in Memory’s Garden on Watervliet-Shaker Road in Albany.

Workers who heard about the accident say that Speanburg did not have her seatbelt on; they said that with just one staff member on the van, clients cannot be properly maintained.

They also said that other clients who are in the van and who lived in the same house with Speanburg were very upset. Further, they alleged that staff had been told not to talk to the media about the accident.
McKenzie said the incident is still under investigation by New Visions and that it would be "irresponsible" to release details prematurely, but he did say that seat-belt use is strictly enforced. The seat-belt enforcement rules were in place well before the accident, he said.

Margie Sheehan, director of communications for New Visions, said that Speanburg’s funeral services were well attended.
"When this happened, this place was in a very, very sad state. People were walking through the halls crying," said Sheehan. There was a lot of counseling, there was a lot of support offered"It was a tragic, tragic accident that touched all of us deeply."

Other accidents

Speanburg’s death is not the only accident in recent history, according to workers.

On Monday, The Enterprise submitted Freedom of Information Law requests about these and other incidents to the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, which has five days to respond, according to state law.

McKenzie said that several different agencies oversee New Visions and monitor all of its practices.
"We are heavily regulated"They look at any incident, but they also come in and visit our sites once a year, looking specifically at our quality of care," said McKenzie. "We are far more scrutinized and regulated than other providers of services."

Turner, who was an assistant director of the Alfred Street group home, said that workers were not allowed to talk about any accidents at the homes.
"I heard that there was an accident," Turner said referring to Speanburg’s death. "They don’t want us talking about it because they didn’t want the media to know about it."

Another worker also stated that they were told to stay away from the media following accidents, and were required to sign a waiver form to that effect.

McKenzie said no order was ever given about not talking to the media, but, according to standard operating procedures, as with many companies, a chain of organization is developed at the company in order to deal with media relations.
"Not even the board of directors is allowed to talk to the press," said McKenzie. "That’s very common practice."

As for telling workers to stay away from the press after an incident occurs, McKenzie said that it is simply untrue. All workers are required to sign a policy notice when they are hired, he said, and the signature states only that an individual has read the policy.
It was not a "gag order," said McKenzie, just a procedure to make sure the employees have read the organization’s policy.
Deaths are usually private family matters and New Visions residents are all one big family, said McKenzie, adding that no one would ever be asked to cover up the details of a "loved one’s" death.
"It’s a way of life for us," he said. "When we provide a home for someone, it is a lifetime commitment."

Other problems

Turner, who is a Philippino, said she believed that discrimination was taking place at New Visions.
McKenzie said he has a "very open-door" policy and that he has never heard about rumors of intimidation or discrimination in his 26 years with the organization.
"I honestly think that if someone would want to draw any conclusions"I would think they would want to do it on some actual experience and not on suppositions," said McKenzie. "It’s fine to say ‘I think, I believe, I feel’; It’s another thing to say that I actually went and talked to Andy McKenzie and he did these things to me. I would really welcome anyone to come and test that theory." He continued, "I think they would find themselves very pleasantly surprised if they did."

Sheehan agreed.
"We’re an equal-opportunity employer; you will find the same policies here that you find at every other human-services agency," said Sheehan.

Turner said that upper management does not always see what goes on at the middle-management levels, and things can often go unreported, or even ignored.

She added that, in recent years, the treatment of workers has gotten worse.
"It’s how they approach you. You don’t get any respect, they treat you like a slave," said Turner. ""They’re very unprofessional."
"We have a grievance policy in place and I encourage people all the time to take advantage of it," said McKenzie. "If someone felt they were being harassed or mistreated, we have in place a very specific and thorough and aggressive policy against those kinds of things, and it gets immediate attention."

Turner said she worked very hard for New Visions and that she loved her job, but that she had to leave and is fortunate to have another job to fall back on, unlike many of her former co-workers.
"I’m a very hard worker"I have a master’s degree from Saint Rose," Turner said. "I am very professional. I have never had a background of violence or anything like that."

Union talk

Amid the current allegations, the process of unionizing is underway. Workers say the union will help protect them and maintain their quality of care.

Three-and-a-half years ago, janitorial workers successfully unionized at New Visions, which is the Albany chapter of NYSARC, said McKenzie.
Now the Civil Service Employment Association, the largest union in New York State, has begun a "corporate campaign," by attempting to unionize all 49 chapters in the state, which includes New Visions.
McKenzie said he has been open in his "interest to protect his workers," and, if that means unionizing, he supports it.
"It’s their privilege and their right and I fully support that," McKenzie said about a union vote.

He also said that management has made no attempt to block the union’s campaign at New Vision and that no worker has been threatened with job loss for support of the union.

Turner also said she believes the union would be a good thing, but says that workers are afraid they may lose their jobs if they openly support it.
"The union has started talking with the staff. Hopefully it’s going to work," said Turner. "You have to be careful because you don’t want to lose your job."

Another worker, whose name is being withheld, also felt scared about supporting the unionization of the work force for fear of being fired.

The worker also said the union was appealing not because of potential pay raises, but because more staff was needed.
"We’re not in this for the money; we could work at McDonalds’ or the mall," said the worker. "We’re here because we love these people. We treat them with dignity and respect."

Turner said that New Visions’ current management has repeatedly promised pay raises and medical reimbursements, but they never happened.
"Things like intimidation and surveillance and interrogation are illegal and are not tolerated here," said McKenzie. "I say, let people pursue their interests."
McKenzie did say he thought the timing of the accusations over Speanburg’s death coinciding with a possible union takeover were "suspicious," but added that, if his workers want the union, he would stand behind them.

A CSEA representative did not return a call for comment about the union talks.
Turner said that her formerstaff could not "go and fight for their rights"because they’ll lose their jobs." She added, "We work so hard to have rights; if we give up that, what’s the use""

Both Turner and McKenzie said that no one has been fired surrounding any allegations of intimidation or because of unionizing. McKenzie went a step further and said no New Visions worker has ever lost a job by talking to him.
"How foolish would it be if I fired someone after they talked to me about an important issue"" he asked.

He also questioned whether the accusers have followed any of the established grievance procedures before they went to The Enterprise with their concerns.

Turner said the procedures don’t work.
"I think that’s what they need, their own union, so they have some place to go to," said Turner of the workers. "If I won the lottery, I would buy the company tomorrow"That’s how desperate I am to help them."