"Senior Homes in Quebec: Construction Delays, Employee Shortage, and Cracked Ceramics - A Rocky Start for a Flagship Project"

2023-04-24 04:00:00

Construction delays, lack of employees and cracked ceramics: the Quebec government’s new seniors’ homes are off to a rocky start.

Already, this flagship project of the Legault government is experiencing delays.

He promised to deliver more than 2,600 places to seniors by 2022. However, for around thirty new homes planned last year, the deadline has been pushed back to 2023.

And of the six buildings delivered by the Société québécoise des infrastructures since last fall, two are still completely empty and the other four have fewer residents than expected.

“It’s window dressing […] It’s just to give people the impression that we are doing something, ”says André-Pierre Contandriopoulos, professor emeritus of health administration at the School of Public Health at the University of Montreal.

Even though they cost $155 million, the two seniors’ homes in Saguenay and Roberval do not welcome any elderly people. Cracks were observed in the wall ceramics of brand new buildings. This would be an aesthetic problem more than a structural one.

The Integrated University Health and Social Services Center (CIUSSS) of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean says in the same breath that it is following the file “very closely”, but has no idea of the “new deadlines”. However, the repairs do not cost the taxpayers anything, since it is the contractor, Pomerleau, who assumes the costs.

Employees wanted

Elsewhere, the lack of employees leaves seniors’ homes half empty.

In Sherbrooke, where the very first was inaugurated in November 2022, the CIUSSS de l’Estrie confirms that 48 residents are housed out of a possibility of 120, that is 36 seniors and 12 adults in an alternative house.

“Labour issues” forced the CIUSSS to postpone the “deployment of the second phase of welcoming new residents”. By email, he says he has 120 employees out of the 200 needed.

In Rivière-du-Loup, recruitment has been ongoing since the opening. From 90 employees at the beginning of March, they are now 138. However, this is still far from the total of 230 to be recruited, according to the CISSS du Bas-Saint-Laurent.

Same observation in Chaudière-Appalaches where seniors’ homes opened their doors this winter.

That of Thetford Mines only accommodates a third of the planned residents, ie 24 out of a capacity of 72. It will be necessary to wait until the fall to accommodate more seniors there.

In Lévis, the new building only accommodates 24 residents, out of a possible 120. “The next waves are in active planning”, specifies without further details the spokesperson, Mireille Gaudreau.

“Infinitely more expensive”

The bill has already risen to $442 million for the first six seniors’ homes.

“It’s infinitely more expensive than home care,” remarks Mr. Contandriopoulos.

Currently, nearly 19,000 seniors are waiting for their first home care service in Quebec. More than 4,000 people are also waiting for a place in a CHSLD, according to government data.

“We could have urgently renovated our current CHSLDs, which need it,” adds the former minister and geriatrician Réjean Hébert.

Courtesy picture

Réjean Hébert, Former Minister Responsible for Seniors

He deplores the two-tier system created by these new buildings vis-à-vis the dilapidated CHSLDs. “Who is going to win the lottery and go there? “, he asks.

BRAND NEW… AND DESERTS

Sherbrooke