Editor:
With all the current rhetoric about housing and development, I’m wondering if anybody remembers the Trellis project. Specifically, do we remember the commitment made by Vancouver Coastal Health, in June of 2016, to enter into a contract with Trellis Seniors’ Services to build a “private-for-profit” 125-bed long-term care facility?
At the time, VCH declared the need for beds to be sufficiently acute that there was no time to waste, and it was necessary to turn the whole project over to a private contractor. Trellis gave a timeline of about 18 months to get their facility up and running. And yet, here we are today, three and a half years later, with no shiny new facility, no additional beds and apparently, no signed contracts to even start building! What happened?
Granted, there have been a few bumps in the road.
The proposed original site had to be abandoned because it was not suitable to the community, and a secondary proposal was initiated by the Sechelt Indian Band to provide land at Wilson Creek. Sources at the SIB tell us that they have not as yet signed a contract with Trellis.
It is a well-known fact that recruitment and retention of nursing staff has been an issue since VCH made their ill-fated announcement. Nurses and care aides are reluctant to relocate to the Sunshine Coast, largely because of the uncertainty of jobs, of employers, and of wages. Even the training courses for care aides at Capilano University have attracted few participants.
And after all the initial, wildly enthusiastic press releases and announcements by VCH and their representatives, we have had a year of conspicuous silence. Perhaps Trellis has “folded their tents like the Arabs and silently stolen away.” If so, where does that leave us? The need for LTC beds is still there. Indeed, after three and a half years, that need has become even more acute, and the population continues to age. Answers, anyone?
Marilynn Green, Gibsons
