Quebec to the rescue of Gilles-Carle houses

2024-04-18 08:00:00

The Legault government grants additional funding of $1.6 million annually to Maisons Gilles-Carle, Radio-Canada has learned. Some of them have ended their activities in recent years, while the others were threatened with closure.

Everything was shaky, everything threatened to close. But now it’s the good news. It’s a party!, said Chloé Sainte-Marie, delighted.

The service points of the Maison Gilles-Carle Foundation, which she helped to set up in memory of her late spouse, offer an accommodation service to people losing their autonomy and, above all, respite for their loved ones. caregivers.

Since 2022, some houses have had to close their doors because they were experiencing financing problems, notably those in Boucherville, Montreal and Saint-René, in the Chaudière-Appalaches region.

Sainte-Anne-des-Monts was closing, that’s for sure, Cowansville… All the houses would have closed this year, deplores Chloé Sainte-Marie.

She maintains that needs were underestimated when the network was launched. There needed to be consolidation, she insists.

After having expressed his indignation on the show Everybody talks about it last March, she learned with relief that her heartfelt cry had been heard.

Quebec will announce on Thursday the increase in aid granted to Gilles-Carle houses, which until now reached $6.8 million annually, by adding 1.6 million per year to this amount.

000$ per bed”,”text”:”Currently, we finance them at around $50,000 per bed”}}”>Currently, we finance them at around $50,000 per bed, explains the minister responsible for Seniors, Sonia Bélanger. 000$, so we arrive at $80,000 per bed.”,”text”:”There, what we are going to do, we are going to add $30,000, so we arrive at $80,000 per bed.”}}”>There, what we’re going to do, we’re going to add $30,000, so we arrive at $80,000 per bed.

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The mission of Gilles-Carle homes “is an integral part” of the government’s home care strategy, indicates Sonia Bélanger.

Photo : Radio-Canada

The funds will be used in particular to hire staff and improve the working conditions of employees who work with patients and their loved ones.

It is a major investment which will allow the Gilles-Carle houses to consolidate, and after that, we will be able to look to the future to see how we continue development, indicates the minister.

Halfway to the goal

The day after coming to power, in October 2018, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government announced its intention to support the construction of 20 Gilles-Carle houses within 10 years.

The network now has nine establishments, which corresponds to half of this objective.

We need to get back to where we were, argues Sonia Bélanger, which would mean the reopening of the Gilles-Carle houses which closed their doors so that there would be 12″,”text”:”10, 11 or 12″}}” >10, 11 or 12 active in Quebec.

We have development ideas, she continues, but my objective is really to increase the number of Gilles-Carle houses, which have a truly extraordinary mission.

hours a day, seven days a week, who don’t have much respite, who experience good times but also periods of insecurity, anxiety, and they need to take time for themselves”,”text” :”Caregivers are people who will give of themselves 24 hours a day, seven days a week, who do not have much respite, who experience good times but also periods of insecurity, of anxiety, and they have need to take time for themselves”}}”>Caregivers are people who will give of themselves 24 hours a day, seven days a week, who don’t have much respite, who experience good times , but also periods of insecurity, anxiety, and they need to take time for themselves, argues the minister.

She emphasizes that other organizations offer respite, including the Alzheimer societies and Baluchon Alzheimer, but the Gilles-Carle houses have the particularity of welcoming all people, regardless of the type of illness.

It is essential that there are others, but we first had to consolidate those, adds Chloé Sainte-Marie.

We take the sick person, we take them to our respite homes, then we leave the caregiver to rest at home, she summarizes. It could be two days, one day, one month, two months.