Sunshine Coast residents are continuing to question Vancouver Coastal Health’s (VCH) plan for the future of long-term care, as the proposal to build a privately owned and operated facility nears a key milestone.
Trellis Seniors Services is hoping to file the necessary zoning and development applications for the Silverstone Care Centre with the District of Sechelt in October, and on Monday the company hosted an “early input opportunity open house” at the Sechelt Legion.
Silverstone is slated to replace the publicly owned and operated Totem Lodge and Shorncliffe in 2018.
The Sept. 19 event was typical of developer open houses, except the company limited entry to groups of 50 and people had to sign up for a designated time.
Many who turned up said they were led to expect a format similar to the VCH town hall on Sept. 12, and some opponents of the plan gathered outside, encouraging people not to go in. A letter circulated before the event called it “an attempt to help bolster Trellis’ corporate image and deny those opposed to their plans the chance to express that opposition with the united voice we displayed at the [Sept. 12] meeting.”
Trellis managing partner Mary McDougall said about 170 people did go through the displays, which gave her team a chance to deal with people’s questions one-on-one in a less charged atmosphere.
McDougall said there were a lot of conversations about land use and zoning, as well as the accessibility of the proposed location, which is at the crest of a hill bounded by Derby Road and the current end of Cowrie Street in the Silverstone Heights subdivision.
“There was a lot of enthusiasm and passion in some of the discussions,” she said. “It was good, meaningful ideas that were coming forward and good, challenging questions that people were putting out there.”
McDougall said the Trellis representatives also dealt with questions around the nature of for-profit care, the terms of their contract with VCH, and labour relations that had come up at the Sept. 12 forum.
“This is just the start of the conversation for Trellis in the community,” said McDougall. “We are now realizing how interested people are in participating and providing their input, so we’re going to be arranging various meetings with seniors and seniors groups as well as other groups in the community … in a setting that allows for open and candid conversation.”
According to Trellis, 25 comment sheets were turned in over the course of the evening, and people have until Sept. 30 to mail them in, or send a written submission.
Many more of the comment sheets ended up at a booth set up outside the meeting. Kath-Ann Terrett, the chair of the BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU) coastal mountain region, said the union, along with groups like COSCO and Alliance for Democracy, wanted to see the comments first, and make copies to ensure they’re passed on “unfiltered.”
“It’s to hold Trellis accountable,” said Terrett. “We don’t want them to vet or filter the comments that they or the architect provide to the [district]. We want to make sure that the true comments of the people of Sechelt and the Sunshine Coast are actually given [to the district].”
The union was also circulating a petition calling on the province to commit that any new facility is publicly funded and administered.
Whether the door is still open to follow that model was one of the questions VCH officials faced at the Sept. 15 meeting of the Regional Hospital District (RHD), which is made up of the members of the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) board.
“Why were we not contacted to see if we could engage support, and [create] a plan for the community, by the community?” asked Elphinstone director Lorne Lewis, referring to a project in Powell River, where local taxation paid for a new facility which VCH will run.
VCH’s Lauren Tindall replied that normally projects are a 60/40 split between the health authority and the RHD (which is how the Sechelt Hospital expansion is being funded). VCH was not in a position to come up with its 60 per cent for a new long-term care facility, and they assumed that the RHD was not in a position to pay 100 per cent of the cost of a major project.
“If that position has changed, I’d be very interested to have a conversation,” Tindall added.
Other questions were around what will become of Shorncliffe and Totem Lodge if the plan goes ahead and they do close in 2018.
RHD chair Frank Mauro, the SCRD director for Pender Harbour, asked if either of the facilities could be kept open and used to “enhance seniors care in the community.” Tindall responded that the possibility is there, but VCH is only just getting started on a plan for those facilities for 2018 and beyond.
“It would be good to see the plans [for Shorncliffe and Totem] and engage the community as soon as possible, because I think it’s in everyone’s interest,” noted Mauro. “We all know the demographics and the ability to more easily increase capacity on the Coast is something that we don’t want to lose sight of, and those two facilities are a prime opportunity for that.”
Tindall told the directors that VCH “took a lot back from the meeting on [Sept. 12], and previous correspondence that we’ve received from the community.”
But she also said the health authority hasn’t changed its position that the plan on the table is the best to meet the needs of the area’s aging population.
“I will again say as I did on [Sept. 12] that I firmly believe in this project. The priority of Vancouver Coastal Health is the quality of care for the patients, and in this case it’s the residents, and a new facility will be able to provide the environment that’s required for our changing demographic.”
