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Kelowna  

Hospice moving forward

The current executive director of the Central Okanagan Hospice Association says new measures have been put in place after the woman who held her position for six years allegedly stole more than $100,000 from the charity, before doing the same in Nanaimo.

Susan Steen has been charged with stealing $109,000 from COHA from July 2012 to April 2016 before she was hired by the Nanaimo Community Hospice Society in December 2016. That organization began noticing “irregularities” and fired her in June of 2017. She has since pleaded guilty to stealing $6,000 from the Vancouver Island organization.

Natasha Girard, who took over the executive director position at COHA in September 2016, says they now conduct a full audit of their finances every year. Prior to 2016, the organization held annual review audits of their financial records, which were less exhaustive.

“I think what's really important is COHA is the victim here,” Girard said. “This has happened to an organization that does very, very impactful work.”

COHA has provided free services and programs to people who are dying or grieving in the community since 1981.

The theft at the Nanaimo organization and alleged theft in Kelowna were discovered around the same time.

Paul Sibley, the current executive director of the Nanaimo Community Hospice Society, said Steen had been making cash withdrawals with the organization's credit card at a casino.

“It was clear in retrospect looking at it that it's someone who has a problem. If you're using your company credit card in a casino for personal use, no organization would ever authorize that obviously,” Sibley said, adding Steen would have known the stolen funds would eventually be discovered.

“If you have someone in your midst who's highly committed to stealing, they're going to steal. The issue is, do you have the controls in place where you can catch it and mitigate the loss.”

Matt August, a director of COHA, said a gambling addiction is no excuse for stealing from a charitable organization.

“It doesn't make it OK because you have an addiction to something,” August said.

August joined COHA's board of directors after watching the organization take care of his dying uncle and his grieving family in 2015.

“The volunteers were able to make the worst part of life manageable,” August said, quoting his cousin. “I'm on the board because of it. I'm on the board because of what they do in the city.”

COHA fundraises 92 per cent of its annual budget.

“We rely heavily on our community and our donors. We do need their help and we ask for our community's continued trust,” Girard said.

Steen will be sentenced for the Nanaimo theft next week. The Kelowna charges were laid in November 2018, and on Tuesday, Steen and her co-accused, former COHA office manager Melanie Gray, told the court they have yet to secure lawyers.



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