Editor:
The 250 Sunshine Coasters fortunate enough to get in the doors of the Sechelt Seniors Centre to hear Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) CEO Mary Ackenhusen and Trellis CEO Mary McDougall on Sept. 12 were treated to an evening of non-answers and evasion on critical questions around the decision to privatize residential care on the Coast. An estimated 150 other people were turned away due to fire marshal regulations. Not one single person spoke in support of the provincial government’s push to privatize residential care and everyone who did speak gave VCH and Trellis an earful.
Sechelt Mayor Bruce Milne, MLA Nicholas Simons and hospital board chair Frank Mauro confirmed that not only had there been no prior consultation with our communities in advance to the June 1 announcement, none of our elected representatives had been consulted in advance.
In the end, those who attended the meeting were left with more questions than answers, but there is yet another chance to get the answers that we need.
On Monday, Sept. 19 from 5 to 7 p.m., Trellis is holding a public meeting at the Sechelt Legion, 5591 Wharf Ave., Sechelt. It is critical that the public comes out to put pressure on the government and demand that Trellis provides honest answers for residents in care, our committed health care workers and our communities. Come out and demand this project be put on hold in order to give sober second thought to what is clearly an unpopular proposal that has ignored a serious examination of alternative approaches to improving residential care on the Coast.
Ray Haynes, Sunshine Coast Senior Citizens
