The moves of residents of CHSLDs to seniors’ homes (MDA) must be approached with great caution, warns an expert in the field who is worried about the impacts for residents and caregivers.
“Almost 100% of people who live in CHSLDs have cognitive disorders,” argues Jessika Roy-Desruisseaux, geriatric psychiatrist at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Sherbrooke.
This gives rise, she says, “to a loss of bearings”. “It’s difficult to adapt, to understand why we are in another place, where we are. »
She was alarmed by the revelations of the Duty on the use, in several regions, of partially empty seniors’ homes to house residents of CHSLDs undergoing renovation.
Mme Roy-Desruisseaux, who follows patients in CHSLDs as part of his work in Estrie, was not aware of this practice.
She feels that we should limit the moves of people with advanced cognitive disabilities as much as possible or, at least, ensure that they can stay at the MDA once moved – and are not moved again to the end of the work.
In interview at Dutythe health authorities of the regions where it is done, have indicated that it would be possible for people to stay but that it would not be systematic.
On the other hand, those who will stay at the MDA will not have the same staff because the employees will necessarily have to return to the CHSLD.
Pressure on caregivers
Jessika Roy-Desruisseaux underlines how heavy this type of move can be for the caregivers who accompany the residents. As part of a research she is conducting on this subject, the latter have told “how complicated it was”. “They are often notified at the last minute,” she says.
“That means that each of the families must go and pack their bags, warn, direct the person,” she adds, stressing that caregivers are “not always well accompanied” by the staff.
If the move to the seniors’ home is temporary, it’s hard for them, “because it means two moves”.
Further details will follow.