The number of seniors waiting for a place in a CHSLD has reached an all-time high in three years in Quebec, putting a lot of pressure on caregivers who sometimes have to turn to an expensive private place.
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“It’s a big mental load and you don’t feel good. No one deserves to end their days tossed from side to side. It’s insane,” laments Ginette Desmarais.
She and her sister Suzanne had to struggle this summer to find a place in a CHSLD for their father Gilles, 95, suffering from dementia. A place they had been asking for months, they say.
And they are far from alone, according to data published by the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS). There are now 4,270 people waiting for a place in a CHSLD.
This is a slight drop since mid-July in Quebec, but the wait is getting longer, particularly in Montreal, Laval and Montérégie. It’s also a nearly 75% jump from spring 2019. The past few months mark the first time the list has topped 4,000 names.
More than half are waiting for their place at home, but more than 1,100 seniors occupy a hospital bed while waiting.
Waterproof CISSS
This is precisely what happened to the father of the Desmarais sisters this summer. The eldest had been living in a seniors’ residence in Terrebonne, but with a care unit, since the start of the pandemic.
However, the two sisters had seen for several months that their father’s condition required much more care than the place was able to provide.
Their requests for a place in a CHSLD, however, remained a dead letter. In addition, the sisters living in Longueuil and Sherbrooke would have liked their father to be closer to them.
“We begged them to transfer him [sur la Rive-Sud], but that’s where we saw that the territories of the CISSSs are watertight,” emphasizes Ginette Desmarais. His sister Suzanne adds that we were talking to them then rather to send him to Joliette, on the territory of Lanaudière.
In May, the residence deemed that it could no longer provide safe care to Mr. Desmarais and he was hospitalized. The eldest stayed two months in the hospital, before ending up in an “overflow unit” in Repentigny, in a multiservice center.
“It was narrow corridors, a chair that didn’t suit him, no laundry room,” laments his daughter Suzanne.
Finally !
She finally received the unexpected call from a private CHSLD in Chambly that had a free room. Even if they pay up to four times more money than the public to house him, the daughters of Mr. Desmarais have peace of mind.
Geriatrician David Lussier maintains that the wait gives “a lot of work and worry to the family”.
Not only will a senior’s abilities deteriorate in an environment that is no longer appropriate, but repeated moves also weigh heavily.
“Every move, especially when you have cognitive issues, is a risk for a severe episode of confusion,” he says.
Multiple chambers
Recently, the government allowed the return of multiple rooms, of three to four residents, in the face of the wait. A “necessary evil” according to Dr. Lussier, pointing out that seniors in the hospital often stay in their jackets or in their room, unlike the CHSLD.
According to the MSSS, the labor shortage has forced the closure of CHSLD beds in places and elsewhere, the closure of intermediate resources contributes to inflating the list.
Just like the accelerated aging of the population.
For Quebec
Mid-August 2022: 4270
Spring 2019: 2447
In every region
Montreal: 886
Monteregie: 835
Capital-National: 412
Estrie: 412
Laval: 345
Laurentians: 343
Outaouais: 288
Chaudiere-Appalaches: 182
Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec: 157
Lanaudiere: 127
Lower St. Lawrence: 78
Abitibi-Temiscamingue: 68
Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean: 68
Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine: 42
North Coast: 27
Source: MSSS