(Quebec) It’s been promised for 20 years, but Minister Marguerite Blais now assures us that this time, it’s the right time: seniors will receive “personalized” care in all public accommodation settings. Starting with lunch at the time they want.
Updated yesterday at 4:22 p.m.
” [On veut] adapt to the person being accommodated, and not the other way around,” summarized the Minister responsible for Seniors and Caregivers, Marguerite Blais, who unveiled her Action Plan for long-term accommodation 2021-2026 on Thursday. The aims of the minister, who will be leaving politics at the end of her mandate, are accompanied by investments of $2.9 billion over five years, sums already announced in the budget.
Quebec wants to “personalize” health care and services to “substantially transform” residential settings for seniors, such as CHSLDs and intermediate resources (IR). The Legault government wants to make them living environments like what it plans for its future seniors’ homes. The plan excludes private seniors’ residences, where users are mostly self-sufficient.
“We personalize the care according to the life history, values, preferences of the people accommodated”, illustrated the minister at a press conference. “A very simple example to illustrate this: lunch. It is important to adapt to the person accommodated and offer him the morning meal at the time of his choice […]we want to personalize the treatment as much as possible,” she added.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Marguerite Blais, Minister responsible for Seniors and Caregivers
To achieve this, Quebec wants to “strengthen” the role of the beneficiary attendant and place the family and caregivers at the center of all decisions concerning the user, both “for decoration [des lieux] than for care plans,” said Ms.me Blais.
Former Prime Minister Philippe Couillard, when he was Minister of Health under the Charest government, had tabled ministerial orientations in 2003 aimed at providing a “quality living environment for people housed in CHSLDs”. The intention was then to “create a living environment in which quality services and care will be provided, based on the needs, tastes, habits and values of individuals and their families”.
Why would this time be the right one? The one who was Minister responsible for Seniors under the Liberal banner from 2007 to 2012 replies: “In 2003 […], there was no money that accompanied the policy, do we understand each other? There, we are talking to you about 2.9 billion dollars, so there, there is money, it is complete, ”she said.
I will soon be leaving politics, but I consider that the plan that has been tabled is a plan for the present and for the future. We need to change our ways […]we have seen it with the pandemic.
Marguerite Blais, Minister responsible for Seniors and Caregivers
This announcement comes the very day the Ombudsperson filed her intervention report in the CHSLDs of the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS. The investigation revealed “practices which amounted to mistreatment of the persons accommodated”, since requests such as going to the toilet or having a snack could go unanswered. The institution accepted all recommendations.
The law of Mme Blais to strengthen the fight against elder abuse also came into effect on April 6.
Hiring of staff
The lion’s share of the 2.9 billion will go to hiring staff. In particular, Quebec wants to continue its plan to provide each CHSLD with a manager, a commitment made at the end of the first wave of the pandemic, in 2020. For the time being, 280 managers have been hired, and the government’s plan provides for 370. , which excludes those of future seniors’ homes.
We are also looking for 67 project managers who will ensure the implementation of the action plan on the ground. Quebec also wants to hire 200 pharmacists to ensure optimal use of medications in CHSLDs and about twenty dentists, 30 denturists and 60 dental hygienists to deploy the Quebec program of oral care and daily oral hygiene care in CHSLDs.
“If we want to be able to establish this new culture, we need more personnel,” indicated the Minister, without specifying where these workers would be unearthed in the context of the labor shortage.
Quebec nevertheless intends to maintain its accelerated training program for attendants in CHSLDs and is counting on the arrival of nursing assistants also through accelerated training.
It should be noted that the Department of Health and Social Services plans to hire 3,000 to 4,000 additional health workers to operate its 46 seniors’ homes and alternative homes.
Marguerite Blais’ plan tabled on Thursday stems from the Accommodation and Long-Term Care and Services Policy introduced a year ago.