Local health care users committee holds annual meeting, discusses regional issues
Local health care users committee holds annual meeting, discusses regional issues
About twenty individuals attended the Pontiac users’ committee annual general meeting, which was conducted on Monday, September 23, at the CLSC in Shawville by the regional health authority CISSSO.
The committee informs patients of their rights within the healthcare system and provides a forum for community members to provide input on the quality of care received from the health authority. Nicole Boucher Larivière, a CISSSO representative for the Pontiac users, was present at the conference.
Jean Pigeon, the director of the Gatineau Health Foundation and representative for the activist organization SOS Outaouais, was the meeting’s special guest. He gave a brief overview of the objectives of his group and some of the difficulties the area is now facing.
He addressed the underfunding of social and health services in the area, raising concerns about the progress made since CAQ Minister for the Outaouais Mathieu Lacombe submitted a symbolic resolution in October 2019 acknowledging this reality.
Pigeon also brought attention to the area’s reliance on private agency nurses, which account for roughly half of the nursing staff at Pontiac Hospital. That number was verified by Boucher Larivière, who also stated that the ratio had greatly grown in the years after the pandemic. She mentioned that the province government had promised to restrict the employment of private agencies in the area by October 2026 and that she anticipated the cost of private agency staff to be about 30% higher.
The users’ committees for the long-term care facilities in the area, including Shawville and Mansfield, as well as the long-term care ward of the Pontiac Hospital, gave their annual reports. Users who were dissatisfied with the food quality were informed by Boucher Larivière that staff and residents had been surveyed in an effort to better serve their consumers.
