Opponents of Vancouver Coastal Health’s (VCH) plan to close Shorncliffe and Totem Lodge and contract out space in a privately-owned facility are staging a protest July 22.
The Rally for Seniors Care on the Sunshine Coast will be held at the top of the Langdale bypass from 1:30 to 3 p.m.
Just ahead of the rally, the Hospital Employees Union (HEU) released an update to its survey on VCH’s agreement with Trellis Group, the company behind the proposed Silverstone Care Centre.
Last month the HEU’s survey-takers called people living in the area from Halfmoon Bay to Roberts Creek and asked: “The provincial government wants to privatize seniors care on the Sunshine Coast. To do this, it will close two publicly-operated residential care homes in Sechelt in 2018. What do you think about privatizing seniors care?”
The options were: 1) Seniors care should remain in the public health system. 2) Private, for-profit seniors care is OK. 3) Unsure.
This month the union asked the same question of people living in the other areas of the Sunshine Coast.
Of the 711 responses, 83 per cent said it should remain in the public system, while four per cent said private, for-profit seniors care is OK and seven per cent were unsure. Another seven per cent refused to participate in the survey (numbers have been rounded, and because this was not a formal poll there was no margin of error calculated).
In the first survey, 74 per cent of the 767 respondents said they wanted seniors care to remain in the public system.
Mike Old of the HEU said the bigger number who were opposed to a private model is likely a sign of growing awareness of the VCH plan, which was announced June 1.
“I think that over the last few weeks more and more people have heard about the issue on the Sunshine Coast and that probably explains why the results have improved from our perspective,” Old said.
“I think one of the reasons you’re seeing such a heightened level of interest in this on the Sunshine Coast is, first of all, [VCH] has announced what facilities they’re going to close to make room for the private facility, and second of all, that many decent, family-supporting jobs in a community the size of Sechelt has an impact,” he added.
HEU represents more than 200 workers who will be affected by the closures, and the union has been in ongoing meetings with VCH over the possible impact to its members.
The BC Nurses Union (BCNU) is also taking part in the July 22 rally.
Kath Ann Terrett, the union’s Coast Mountain Region chair, told Coast Reporter one of the reasons for holding the rally near the ferry terminal on a Friday afternoon is to catch the attention of visitors.
“When people see us on the highway, they’re going to reflect,” Terrett said. “A lot of people are looking to the Sunshine Coast to retire, and if there’s any kind of whiff of that [shift to privately-run long-term care] will they choose to come here, or will they join us to get the government to keep care in public hands?”
The BCNU has filed a grievance against VCH, alleging the health authority’s plan amounts to contracting out nursing jobs – a violation of the collective agreement.
Terrett met this week with Sechelt Mayor Bruce Milne to discuss the BCNU’s concerns. She says the union will also be meeting soon with shíshálh Nation leadership, and MP Pamela Goldsmith-Jones.
Both HEU and BCNU plan to have reps working the crowds at Sea Cavalcade in Gibsons July 23 and 24 to share information and encourage people to sign petitions. The unions are hoping to have Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons present the petitions in the Legislature.
