Editor:
It is clear that Vancouver Coastal Health Authority’s plan for residential care service is a mess. Not only was there a lack of consultation with our locally elected representatives and community partners, the decision-makers obviously didn’t even know what basic questions to ask before their secretive planning and contract signing with a private, for-profit company.
So now, more and more of the chickens are coming home to roost and the egg on senior VCH faces is indeed mucky.
According to your article last week (“Hospice, auxiliary roles at private facility uncertain”), it’s not clear how the Sunshine Coast Hospice Society and the Health Care Auxiliary will “fit in” under VCH’s plan for long-term care to serve our community. Thank goodness our own community members actively involved in these two organizations and many other community members are much smarter than the VCH officials.
Anyone who is involved in non-profit organizations knows the basics – a not-for-profit organization, such as our hospital auxiliary and hospice society, cannot fundraise and give their charitable dollars (purposes that benefit the community in a way the federal courts have said are charitable) to a for-profit business like Trellis.
So where to next?
Given all the evidence-based research and the strong reasoned reactions from the community to this multi-faceted, ill-fated plan, it’s obvious that we need a whole new community supported plan. I strongly urge that instead of exploring how to finagle the many aspects of the current mess, including the latest need to try to find a legal loophole or two to funnel charitable dollars to a privately run business, VCH should take the high road.
VCH can cut its losses. It’s time to figure out how to work with the community and elected representatives and utilize the local expertise to construct a whole new plan and a new contract that has community support to provide quality residential care services and hospice care via a not-for-profit or public structure.
Dianne Goldberg, Halfmoon Bay
