Sechelt council had its first opportunity this week to hear directly from officials with Trellis Seniors Services, the company Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) has tapped to build and operate a new long-term care facility to replace Totem Lodge and Shorncliffe, which are slated for closure in 2018.
If the project goes ahead, Silverstone would be built on property between the end of Cowrie Street and Derby Road near the existing Silverstone Heights subdivision. Sechelt council will be a key voice in whether it goes ahead because it requires official community plan and zoning amendments.
The Nov. 2 committee of the whole meeting was called to explore “residential services – options for seniors proposed for Sechelt” and also included delegations from Spani Developments (Rockwood Ocean Stories) and the Wesbrooke by the Sea project planned for the Clayton Family Lands.
It was Trellis’ Silverstone Care Centre that drew a big crowd, but if they were expecting a heated debate on the merits of VCH’s plan, they went away disappointed.
Mayor Bruce Milne opened the meeting by reminding the public that the committee of the whole is for broad discussions, not decision making. Milne also noted that he’d received several emails that suggested people might have been expecting something different out of the meeting than council. “We’re not going to talk about business models, and whether people approve of certain business models,” he said.
Mary McDougall, president of Trellis, also noted that she wouldn’t be dealing with issues around zoning, land use or building design at the meeting. She said those questions will be tackled during the application process.
Although she didn’t provide much new information, McDougall did, however, go into some of the questions the community has been raising about Silverstone.
According to McDougall, when it comes to the contract with VCH, “the government sets the rules – the operator does not set the rules.” McDougall said the starting point is equal access. Trellis won’t pick and choose who gets a bed under the VCH deal.
“The hours [of care] today will be exactly, on a per-resident day, as what they will be at our site,” she said. “There has been conversation around there being differences. They [VCH] have now come formally to us and said the hours will be the same – 100 per cent. There will be no difference. We are mandated to deliver that. We are audited to deliver that.”
The cost to residents will also be on the same Ministry of Health scale for subsidized beds, from a minimum of $1,006 per month to $3,200 (2016 figures) depending on income and with extra charges restricted. “That is no different whether public or private – these rules are universal across the system,” she said.
On staffing, McDougall said Trellis wants to maintain continuity of care and keep a stable workforce. She didn’t reveal specific pay scales, but called them competitive with other private facilities. She also said staff turnover at their other facilities is less than five per cent.
“There’s no change to this, there’s no reason to panic that the shift [to Silverstone] is going to diminish anything,” she said. “And from my own personal perspective, I want to believe I can improve it. I can do better.”
Milne also offered a sense of the timeline for an application like Silverstone to work its way through the district planning requirements.
“Typically, once a proposal lands in our office, it can take 12 to 18 months for a major proposal like this to be processed.”
So far the Trellis application has not come to Sechelt council.
