CHSLD Domaine Saint-Dominique | A room at $97,000 per year

Families are “scandalized” by the explosion in the cost of rents in a private CHSLD. For one of them, the annual bill will be close to $100,000

(Quebec) Families of seniors housed in a private CHSLD in Quebec are “scandalized” by rent increases of 30 to 50%, which will make them pay up to $97,000 a year. The owner justifies these vertiginous increases by the new orientations of the Legault government. Quebec rejects his explanations and asks him to step back.

“We are outraged. It’s not reasonable,” exclaims Carole Bédard. His 92-year-old mother has lived at the CHSLD Domaine Saint-Dominique for seven years. A year ago, the lease was renewed for $3,488 per month, which includes housing and care.

In September, M.^me Bédard is informed that the new tariff will increase to $5,475 since her mother needs more care, she is told. “We swallowed the pill. My sisters and I took money out of our own bank accounts to help out,” explains Carole’s brother, Jean Bédard.

However, at the end of January, they are told that the cost per month will now be $7,448 starting in April, or more than $89,000 per year. It’s the shock. “Our mother can’t take that hike for very long. He has money left for the equivalent of perhaps a year, ”laments M^me Bedard.

Their case is not unique. Two other families reported to The Press similar situations. Françoise Chalifour’s mother will have to pay $97,440 per year, a monthly increase of $2,538 which will come into effect in May. “How can a 93-year-old woman have [un logement] above $90,000 per year? “, she laments in an interview.

In an email, the president of Domaine Saint-Dominique confirms that 64 of the 179 permanent residents (those whose leases are renewed between 1^er April and the 1^er August 2023) are affected by these increases. “In terms of rooms and services, the increase corresponds on average to more or less $1,375 per month,” writes Patrick Gilbert. This is an increase of over $16,500 per year.

Domaine Saint-Dominique has been under the supervision of the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale since the fall due to “significant and worrying shortcomings relating to the quality of care and services to residents”, underlines the Ministry of Health and Social Services ( MSSS). Although the “efforts since [aient] significantly improve the quality of the living environment”, the guardianship is maintained until September 2023.

Quebec singled out

These rent increases are part of the context where the government of François Legault has decided to convert private CHSLDs into approved establishments, pleads the president of the CHSLD. “This new status entails a significant increase in the supply of care that we are obliged to offer to all residents, current and future,” writes Mr. Gilbert.

The CHSLD has been facing an average monthly deficit of about $245,000 since October, says Gilbert. “We redistribute part of the costs of this operation to the residents,” he admits.

Explanations that “jumped” the Minister for Health and Seniors, Sonia Bélanger. “There is no question of the contracting process being assumed by the elders,” she said in an interview with The Press. “The owners came out with this argument, but it is not at all in the ministerial or political discourse,” she said.

To be approved, and therefore subsidized by the State, the establishment must “reach a certain level of standards” in terms of quality of services, underlines the minister. Quebec can offer support, but there are no amounts allocated to allow them to reach these new standards.

For me^me Bélanger, the supers of Domaine Saint-Dominique are “staggering” and “completely unrealistic”. She asked the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale to find a way through with the owner. “He’s going to change the bill, he’s going to do it,” said the minister. On Thursday, Mr Gilbert said he still intends to go ahead with the hikes.

Carole Bédard had also written to M^me Bélanger at the end of March to denounce the situation. She got a response from the minister the day before the article was published.

The minister assures that she intervened as soon as she was informed of the situation, about two weeks ago.

MP Christine Labrie had also hounded M^me Bélanger on the question, last week at the Blue Room. “Does she find it normal for a private CHSLD in the process of an agreement to cause the cost of rent to explode? “, launched the elected representative of Quebec solidaire.

M^me Bélanger also asked the MSSS to send “clear instructions” to the owners of private CHSLDs to avoid a situation like that of Domaine Saint-Dominique.

The concern persists

But the concern among the families persists. “During this time, we have seniors who have to deal with increases that are asked of them and which are really abusive,” lamented the spokesperson for the establishment’s users’ committee, Françoise Trudel. Her father received a 43% rent increase.

M^me Chalifour, for his part, filed a complaint with the Service Quality and Complaints Commission of the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale on April 10. She is still unanswered.

For its part, the family of Carole Bédard must consider finding a new residence for her mother. “She loves the residence where she lives and often tells us that she is very lucky to be able to end her life there. She will be very sad to leave [le CHSLD] “, laments M.^me Bedard.

Quebec is giving itself five years to contract the quarantine of private CHSLDs in order to “harmonize the supply of care” between the public and the private sector. The pandemic has revealed disparities between the two categories of establishments. According to Minister Eric Girard’s latest budget, the Legault government has “significantly progressed” in the contracting of 16 CHSLDs.