Local rehab centres concerned about new Lennoxville project

Aplan to establish a private rehabilitation centre on the site of the former White Fathers monastery on Cardinal-lavigerie road in Lennoxville has become a cause for worry and frustration from similar centres across the Eastern Townships. Jean Defonvieille, executive director of the Maison Nouvelle Vie Centre in St-joseph de Ham Sud, told The Record that he and his counterparts have concerns not just about the introduction of duplicate services into a saturated market, but of unbalanced decisionmaking on the part of the city and the local healthcare establishment.

“All of our centres, within the last three years, have had visits from the certification team from the CIUSSS to discuss and verify that the right people were in the right bed with the proper approach.” Defonvieille said, referring to the nine local centres whose directors co-signed a letter to the city of Sherbrooke that shares their fears about the new facility.

Before the opening of the new centre in Lennoxville, Defonvieille said that the centres within the townships have a total of 530 beds available for different forms of rehabilitation services

“The Ministry of Health and Social Services already considers this too many,” he said, explaining that the pressure from above comes from the idea that the region is already being over-served.

That being the case, the centre director asked why it is that a new centre is being authorized.

Defonvieille was insistent about the fact that the signatories to the letter of opposition are not opposed to the idea of helping more people, but instead suggested that the opening of a centre which duplicates existing services rather than adding to serve known needs in the community, like services for the homeless, runs the risk of increasing struggles that all the centres have with finding qualified personnel and resources.

The city of Sherbrooke is currently taking feedback on a zoning change proposal that would allow the former religious building to be used as a rehabilitation centre and, lacking other viable directions to voice their concerns, Defonvieille said that he and his colleagues have been reaching out to the residents of neighbouring zones to try to have them block the change.

The proposed zoning change adds two possible usages: Temporary accommodation for the purposes of convalescence, and supervised accommodation resource for reintegration, to the existing agricultural and religious purposes already authorized on the site. Although Defonvieille made reference to a rumour that the project would also include a housing development, the proposed zoning does not permit such a project and a representative of the Fondation Robert Piché told The Record that there is no plan to alter the natural environment of the lot at all.

The proposal further notes that no substantial modification to the existing building is planned, and expressly notes that this kind of change does not allow for a change to the buildings’ existing footprint or height.

Any oppostition to the project is due to be presented to the city council on June 7.

Asked about the certification of a new centre on the territory in light of Defonvieille’s statements about regional capacity, CIUSSS de l’estrie-chus media relations representative Geneviève Lemay said that the number of spaces available in rehabilitation resources across the region has no bearing on the certification process for a new or existing resource.