Last week we completed an important project that began last year when the collective agreement was renegotiated. We have indeed reviewed the provision of care by the P.A.B. on the units and have put in place a process that will allow us to increase their presence with the residents.

As of July 10, 2022, the number of P.A.B. on the day shift will increase from 4 to 5 per living environment. This will allow each P.A.B. to offer care to only 5 or 6 residents instead of 7 to 8.

By comparison, the ratios required in public centers are 6 to 7 residents per P.A.B.

To achieve this end, we reviewed all the positions held by unionized employees and proceeded to a complete redistribution of these positions. This means that it may be that from July 10, new (masked) faces will provide you with care. Don’t worry, even though these people will be new to you, they are experienced members of our team. Give you and them time to get to know you.

The other change we need to implement is the showers. Since we have eliminated the P.A.B. position that overlapped the day and evening shifts, we will have to take away some workload from the evening P.A.B. to allow them to be more present with the residents.

As a result, we will no longer be able to give showers in the evening.

We are aware that this will create inconvenience for some residents, and we ask them to come and talk to us about it so that we can find an alternative solution.

We would like to thank the union representatives and their members for their cooperation throughout this process. In the short term, we hope that this will improve service to residents and that it will help stabilize the workforce and decrease the use of agencies or overtime.

It seems that the news site “Global News” used archived footage shot at the C.H.S.L.D. Château Westmount during the award ceremony of the medal of the National Assembly to fill downtime in their report on the poor conditions imposed on foreign workers with temporary permits.

We would like to clarify that we do not have any foreign workers with such work permits. This report was in no way related to our establishment.

In addition, we never allowed Global News to record shots where residents were visible and identifiable. We contacted Global News to express our outrage at this situation and asked them to remove the video.

We are currently awaiting their response.

Our privacy policy prohibits such a practice. And even though the situation is out of our control, we are very sorry and we are actively trying to correct it.

If any of you wish to express your dissatisfaction, we invite you to contact Global News.

Thank you for your understanding

Update [2022-04-12]

Global News was contacted and agreed to remove images of Château Westmount which had initially been included in a report. Thank you for your understanding.

We are absolutely not in the same situation as the CHSLDs of the Arbec Health Group. The transfer of residents to the emergency room due to a lack of staff is not a solution that could be considered and even less implemented.

If some of you have read the article in the newspaper “La Presse” [web link]  about the difficulty of private CHSLDs in keeping their workforce, we would like to reassure you.

Our use agencies staff is minimal. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have concluded exclusive contracts with certain agencies that have made it possible to stabilize the staff on the floors.

The majority of shifts are filled by our own staff. The costs of the agencies are therefore not an issue for us. In addition, for some time now, the financial support provided by the government has made it possible to increase the hiring of new employees.

It is true that we are in discussions with the Ministry of Health and Social Services regarding the funding of the staff (managers excluded) to equalize their salaries with those of the employees of the public.

We will not publicly discuss the contents of these discussions or the planned scenarios. On the other hand, we would like to point out that we are not one of the 3 CHSLDs selected as a pilot project for a transformation as a “conventionné”.

In 2021, the government announced its desire to contract the remaining 39 private CHSLDs in Quebec, and this wish was reiterated recently during a videoconference. But we do not know more than the rest of the population, the avenues and the outcomes of their plan and no timetable has been given to us. We will therefore not be able to answer your questions on this subject.

The precariousness of staff affects all sectors in Quebec and health is no exception. We are proud at CHSLD Château Westmount to be able to count on a very strong core of employees that has allowed us to get through the pandemic without any service breakdown and that allows us to look to the future serenely.

The quality of care for residents is a constant concern for all members of our team and it is this quality that is the basis of the reputation of the CHSLD Château Westmount. We will continue to provide impeccable care while maintaining the same level of service you are used to.

When we have more information on the reform of CHSLDs, we will keep you informed. You are not only our customers but also our partners.