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Editorial: Healthcare Auxiliary may have a role at Silverstone

Among opponents of Trellis Senior Services’ long-delayed Silverstone project, the expected loss of the Sunshine Coast Healthcare Auxiliary’s contributions has been singled out as one of the drawbacks of shifting from public facilities to a private on
silverstone
Artist’s conception of proposed Silverstone Care Centre. The for-profit facility is expected to replace the publicly operated Shorncliffe and Totem Lodge in Sechelt.

Among opponents of Trellis Senior Services’ long-delayed Silverstone project, the expected loss of the Sunshine Coast Healthcare Auxiliary’s contributions has been singled out as one of the drawbacks of shifting from public facilities to a private one.

Soon after Vancouver Coastal Health announced the project in June 2016, the community was told that the Auxiliary would not be able to continue with the important volunteer work it does at Shorncliffe and Totem Lodge because Silverstone would be a for-profit entity.

So, it was surprising to read in Dr. Jim Petzold’s letter to the editor this week that concerns about accommodating the Auxiliary’s volunteer services at Silverstone “have been addressed,” along with issues around employee wages and benefits.

To confirm this, we contacted Auxiliary president Candice Sayre, who provided the paper with a carefully worded statement: “Because of its concern and commitment to continue to be able to provide care and comfort to members of the community, the Sunshine Coast Healthcare Auxiliary retained expert legal advice with respect to the limitations, if any, imposed by the Societies Act and the Canada Revenue Agency upon volunteering by non-profit registered charities such as the Auxiliary, in connection with for-profit long-term care facilities. The Auxiliary was advised that it could continue to provide services, but could not contribute to the purchase of equipment.”

Asked if the Auxiliary intends to provide services at Silverstone, Ms. Sayre said the question “may be viewed as premature, since the District of Sechelt has yet to approve such a facility and it may be several years before such a facility exists, if ever.” However, she added, “the Auxiliary is committed to provide care and comfort and services to long-term care residents. If invited by Trellis, the Auxiliary would do so to the extent permitted by law. To date, however, the Auxiliary has not had contact with or from a Trellis representative.”

Anyone familiar with the Auxiliary’s work in the care homes, and now the hospital’s second-floor long-term care unit, knows that “care and comfort” is putting it mildly. A partial list of services includes hair and nail care, cognitive skill programs, music programs, music therapy, therapy dog visits, gardening activities, outings to entertainment and luncheons, barbecues, birthday parties, Christmas parties with Santa and Christmas stockings. And those, Ms. Sayre points out, don’t include “the priceless: a friendly face, a kind hand, a willing listener.”

If the Trellis people are serious about serving the Sunshine Coast, they should contact Ms. Sayre and the Auxiliary executive immediately, apologize for their inexcusable tardiness, and beg them to be part of the Silverstone operation.

But even assuming the Auxiliary’s services continue, there will still be a big net loss in equipment purchases and donations. Last year, the Auxiliary equipped and furnished the hospital’s new long-term care unit at a cost of more than $200,000. Other purchases for the care homes have included a bus, a stove, barbecues, patio furniture, mattresses, patient lifts, bedsore prevention aids, clothing vouchers, window coverings, tablecloths, puzzles, games and books. That’s a mere sampling of the total list, which represents hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations.

The cost for those types of items in the future will either be recovered from the provincial government or shouldered by families, or the residents will go without. So this “accommodation” is, potentially, at best a partial win for the community.

The Auxiliary is in a tough position. It “will not be drawn into a political debate about public versus for-profit care,” Ms. Sayre concludes, since taking “any political position would exceed our mandate as set forth in our constitution and bylaws.”

She sums up the matter astutely: “Long-term care on the Coast has become fraught.”

It really has. And this group deserves only praise for trying to make the best of it.