By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
The CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS will not move forward with a plan to enlarge the CHSLD de Bedford, despite a dogged pro-expansion campaign waged by the Bedford Pole Health Committee (BPHC). Christiane Granger, president of the Fondation Lévesque-Craighead, which raises money to support public health facilities in the region, told the BCN.
In May 2022, after several years of advocacy from community groups, Brome-Missisquoi MNA Isabelle Charest and then- seniors’ affairs minister Marguerite Blais announced details of an expansion plan which would allow the residence to accommodate up to 49 residents in private rooms and create a protected unit with eight places for people with cognitive disabilities who are susceptible to wandering, as the BCN reported at the time. However, in June of this year, officials from the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS announced the project was off the table, although smaller renovations would go ahead in consultation with a users’ committee.
Members of the BPHC and the Bedford Pole Economic Relaunch Committee launched a campaign to revive the expansion project, holding a protest in front of the CHSLD and gathering over 3,300 signatures on a petition which was tabled at the National Assembly on Oct. 10.
On Oct. 17, CIUSSS officials met with the foundation. “The meeting was suggested to us by the CIUSSS,” Granger said. “The decision [to cancel the expansion] is maintained. They wanted to meet with us in person, explain the reasons and close the loop on the whole thing. They were in good faith but the [situation] changed. We are disappointed, but glad to have had the meeting. There is interest in another project, but nothing concrete as of yet. If there’s a new project [proposed], we’ll discuss it with the CIUSSS.” As of press time, the CIUSSS had not responded to a request to independently confirm details of the meeting.
Granger said the sum of $250,000 raised by the foundation to contribute to the proposed expansion will be reallocated, potentially toward equipment upgrades to local family doctors’ offices.
She said the foundation plans to keep working with the BPHC and the Economic Relaunch Committee in the future. “We’re confronted with the reality [of the cancellation] – we’re not making the decision,” she added.
BPHC spokesperson Pierrette Messier said she was “doubly disappointed” by the project being shelved, saying it reflected the government’s disinterest in seniors and in rural regions as a whole. “They were short of money, and they chose other priorities,” she said.
Home care on the rise
CIUSSS officials have cited rising demand for home care as one major reason they decided not to invest in the CHSLD expansion. “The number of home support interventions has increased over the past two years, with 124,903 interventions carried out in 2023-2024, compared to 90,012 interventions in 2021-2022. In addition, intensive home nursing follow-up interventions have increased by 30 per cent in two years,” said CIUSSS spokesperson Nancy Corriveau.
Normand Roy, director general of the Coopérative de soutien à domicile du pays des vergers, a home care services co-op serving the MRC of Brome-Missisquoi, confirmed that demand for home care services has risen in recent years – partly, he speculated, due to the closures of private seniors’ homes due to regulatory requirements.
The co-op offers house cleaning, respite care and basic personal care – helping an elderly or disabled person get up, bathe, dress and take their medication. If a person requires less than 40 hours per week of home care and is not a danger to themselves, Roy explained, they can stay in their home rather than moving to a CHSLD, although if the person requires more care or “starts wandering in the night and is not wandering safely,” a move can become inevitable.
“During the pandemic, we didn’t have deaths [among seniors in the region receiving in-home care], and in CHSLDs, people died,” he said. “You have a lot more of a chance to catch the virus in a building than in your own home. You also have more freedom – you’re not going to be stuck in your room. We all want to grow old at home.”
Messier maintained that home care and CHSLDs had two different vocations. “We want to stay home as long as we can [but] CHSLDs are there for people who need a lot more care.”
“We’re waiting to see if the CIUSSS will offer anything else; we don’t know the next steps,” she said.