Saint Elizabeth HR didn’t contact references when hiring Elizabeth Wettlaufer, inquiry hears

A registered nurse testified that she never contacted any references when she hired Elizabeth Wettlaufer at Saint Elizabeth in Oxford County.

Wettlaufer applied to the home care group in 2014 but another nurse who had worked with her at Caressant Care in Woodstock told Tamara Condy that Wettlaufer didn’t get along with co-workers and there were some concerns about her work.

Wettlaufer re-applied in 2016 and was hired without Condy contacting any of her four references.

Speaking at the public inquiry into long-term care homes on Thursday, Condy testified that a new procedure was introduced to train staff on how to screen candidates after Wettlaufer’s crimes came to light but they still didn’t contact references.

“I continued on with the same HR process after, in the year after that I was still doing the job after all this happened.”

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At one point while working for Saint Elizabeth, Wettlaufer went to a patient’s home in Ingersoll unannounced. The patient came out of the shower to find Wettlaufer going through her things in the kitchen. Wettlaufer claimed she had left some equipment at the client’s home. Condy learned about the incident from other nurses but no critical incident report was filed in that case.

Condy also discussed a report from staff that described Wettlaufer as disorganized and nervous while completing basic nursing tasks and had a hard time handling criticism.

Wettlaufer quit Saint Elizabeth after a month because she was asked to work with diabetic children; she later told police that she didn’t trust herself not to hurt them.

The hearings have ended for the week and will resume July 16.