Grenfell long-term care providers oppose private funding

A former health care worker from Grenfell’s long-term care facility is calling out the government to stay public, especially for seniors care.

“Nobody needs to make money off of health care for seniors — nobody,” said Mary Piller.

Piller used to work in the kitchen of the town’s long-term care home. It was closed in September after mould issues were found in the building.

Residents were given little notice to move out and choose new care homes to temporarily stay at.

The province now has a request for proposals open to take pitches on funding, building and operating what will be Grenfell’s replacement centre. One option is a privately funded care home.

That’s the option that Piller and other CUPE 5430 members say shouldn’t even be on the table.

“We want public-build, public-run. That’s what we want. That’s what every other town has, and we should have no less,” she said at the legislature Monday afternoon.

Rural and Remote Health Minister Greg Ottenbreit said his government isn’t yet going to promise a public model for the new facility.

“We have a lot of examples within our system (of public and private models),” he said. “In fact, we have 35 per cent or better run by affiliates and third-party partners. We want to see what’s the best outcome, what’s the best deal we can make for the community to deliver the service as quickly as we possibly can.”

Equally pressing is the need to get the former home’s residents back to Grenfell, Piller said. She added that residents’ stress of moving and adjusting to new care homes outside of their hometown has contributed to increased depression for them.

“We’ve had five deaths (in six months) from our residents that were moved out. And we hadn’t had a death for 18 months (prior to September),” she said.

Grenfell Mayor Rod Wolfe also said the closure of the original care home has contributed to part of the town’s decline over the past few months.

“Anytime you lose a major employer like this … you’re going to have the spinoffs,” he said.

The province’s request for proposals period ends on March 20.