CHSLDs used to serve champagne, turkey and stuffing to long-term residents and family. Now they get the same old hospital tray.
For the second year in a row, Quebec long-term care homes are cutting their holiday costs — this time by cancelling their annual Christmas family meals.
An email to CHSLD staff, obtained by The Gazette, reads: “The food service will not produce the Christmas meal for the family celebration.”
A worker who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal said cost concerns and staff shortages influenced the decision.
Families of CHSLD residents say they have noticed a pattern of cutting corners that’s especially disappointing during the holidays, when long-term residents might feel particularly homesick or abandoned.
“They’re given the basic care. It’s not like they’re being given anything extra to begin with,” said Ida D’Adamo, whose 94-year-old father, Rocco D’Adamo, is a long-term resident at CHSLD LaSalle. “I don’t understand why they want to take that little bit of joy away from these residents who already have so little, and this is their home.”
When The Gazette asked why the CHSLD is paring down the holiday meal, Hélène Bergeron-Gamache, a spokesperson for CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, did not give a reason. Instead, Bergeron-Gamache said the CIUSSS “has adapted the format of its holiday celebrations to offer a warm and festive time for our residents and their families, while taking into account current operational realities.”
She said dessert, non-alcoholic punch, coffee and tea will still be served.
“It’s appalling for the government to be concerned about whether they can give them a meal at Christmas time,” D’Adamo said. Older family members “sacrificed so much in their lifetime. And I know it’s not essential, but they’ve paid their taxes. For them to have one or two meals at Christmas time, it’s really not a big deal.”
In the past, the CHSLDs would serve traditional holiday fare — sparkling wine, turkey, stuffing, meat pies — to the long-term residents and one of their family members, according to someone who has had family in a CHSLD for over five years.
Two family members who spoke to The Gazette on the condition of anonymity noted that the CHSLD skimped on the holiday meal last Christmas as well, serving hospital food to the long-term residents while the family members were given a holiday feast.
The Gazette asked the CHSLD for comment but did not receive a reply.
“The residents were all staring at us, watching everybody dunking their fries in gravy while they’re getting an overcooked meatball with a scoop of mashed potato that tastes of nothing,” a family member said. “I couldn’t eat it in front of him. I gave him my chicken.”
In the staff email obtained by The Gazette, one of the alternatives listed for the Christmas celebration is to change the time of the party to be outside mealtime, which would allow the CHSLD to have a celebration with live music and hot chocolate, but no meal.
Another suggested cost-saving alternative is to give family members a $15 plate from St-Hubert paid for by volunteer associations while residents eat the regular hospital food, according to the email sent out to staff.
“When I want a meal, I go to a restaurant. I go there to feed my dad daily. I don’t care if I get food or not, but they never get anything, and they can’t go out,” said the family member.
Another suggestion in the CHSLD staff email was to ask volunteer associations to pay for the holiday meal. But D’Adamo and the others noted they already pay a monthly fee of about $2,000 out of pocket to have their family members stay at a CHSLD, which contributes to lodging, care work and food.
“We have to pay like (it’s) a private residence, but we don’t have the perks of it,” the family member said.
CHSLD LaSalle’s volunteer association paid for chicken meals from Scores for residents and their families this holiday season, according to a staff member, but LaSalle’s case is an exception among the CIUSSS long-term care homes.
All three family members said they would pitch in to a fundraiser or offer volunteer hours, if cost and staff shortages are the factors getting in the way of a holiday meal.
“The guilt of not having (my father) home is strong, and so to make up for it, we try to make his life there as good as possible,” D’Adamo said. “He would be at home if my mother could take care of him. I have an 85-year-old mom who’s also had her own health issues,” emphasizing that her mother and father have a special relationship. “To him, she’s everything.”
One worker at CHSLD LaSalle, who also requested anonymity, said the cuts are “disappointing, but what are you gonna do?” noting that resources at the CHSLD are thin.