Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) directors are taking a cautious approach to working with a new group that wants to convince Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) to revisit its plans for long-term care.
The group Friends of Residential Care Sunshine Coast (FORCSC) appeared before the SCRD’s Nov. 10 board meeting to ask for support for their effort to go out to Sunshine Coast residents and try to develop a long-term care strategy that would be “a better alternative to the proposal currently before us.”
FORCSC members Sue Jackel and Anne Titcombe said the group is hoping to hold the sort of public consultation they feel VCH should have done before going forward with a contract for beds in a private facility Trellis Seniors Services wants to build in Sechelt.
“The Friends of Residential Care have developed some basic principles that we think should apply to this type of decision,” Jackel said. “One is consultation with the affected population, the second is transparency and accountability – there is no accountability at the health authority in this case.
“We are asking this board to help us provide the solid, well-researched content for an alternative proposal and an opportunity to persuade senior management at Vancouver Coastal Health to do a rethink,” Jackel said. “This doesn’t necessarily exclude Trellis … If we need more beds, clearly we need more than one facility.”
SCRD chair, and Halfmoon Bay director, Garry Nohr said while the SCRD board has gone to the health ministry with concerns about how VCH handled the process, they have to tread carefully when it comes to backing a new, community-driven process.
“In some ways I don’t mind doing what you’re asking,” Nohr said. “At the same time, we’re in a position where we cannot go against another organization that we’re dealing with, which is Vancouver Coastal Health. But we’re prepared to take anything that you get and put together, as an advocate for you, to the ministry to explain your concern if you haven’t already done it yourselves … but I don’t want to put my name to being a leader of the protest against Vancouver Coastal Health.”
“I think we all recognize that more capacity is good, and you can rest assured that we lobby for more capacity regarding seniors’ housing and residential care all the time,” said Pender Harbour director Frank Mauro, who also chairs the Regional Hospital District Board.
“One of the items that we’ve spoken to is the repurposing of the [existing] facilities and that was also part of the conversation earlier with Vancouver Coastal Health and will continue to be. I think that the board members here, to a person, support and understand the additional facilities required and you can expect us to continue on with that [discussion] … We have some difficulty being part of a lobby group, because it puts us in jeopardy with the relationships we have with other [organizations].”
Titcombe explained that FORCSC isn’t mounting a protest. “What our group is really trying to do is not get in the way of Vancouver Coastal Health, but do the piece that hasn’t been done with regard to the need that is seen on the Coast … Trellis and Vancouver Coastal Health may go ahead and do their piece, but we’re hearing loud and clear that 20 extra beds just isn’t enough, and if you project that out another 10 years, it’s even worse.”
Most of the directors around the table said they’d be willing to host community meetings and extend an invitation to VCH to participate and facilitate communication between VCH and FORCSC.
