Editor:
Wow – I’m not even going to take on the wording of the questionable advertisement by Trellis/Silverstone in last week’s Coast Reporter, but it’s tempting to remind folks that it appeared right before an election. The ad states that pretty much everything about the privately funded and operated care facility slated to replace Shorncliffe and Totem will be “public.”
Here’s something that’s not public, though. Care facilities like Trellis have owners and shareholders whose primary goal is to make a profit, which could result in a lower quality of care for residents. Part of my tax dollars, and yours too, support health care, and some of those dollars end up in the pockets of the developers and speculators who fund private care facilities. Research shows that private facilities pay staff less and expend fewer hours of care to each resident. Administrators work hard to cut costs so those profits (remember – that’s our hard-earned tax dollars) can be distributed to investors who often don’t live in this country.
If you agree there is something wrong with this picture or just wish to learn more, please attend the second public forum on seniors’ care, Privatization and Declining Access to B.C.’s Seniors’ Care, on Sunday, April 30, 2 to 4 p.m. at the Sechelt Indian Band Hall. We owe it to our elders, aging friends, concerned families and local caregivers to preserve and enhance a true public system that has worked in British Columbia.
B. Gail Riddell, Sechelt
