MONTREAL -- Health officials announced a big boost in funding for home care in Quebec on Sunday.
The province has increased their spending from $280 to $380 million in recurring payments. Those funds will go to hiring and increasing the salaries of care workers.
“It’s never enough, but I think it’s a very good step,” said Minister of Health and Social Services Christian Dubé, joined by his parliamentary assistant Marilyne Picard the Minister responsible for Seniors and Caregivers Marguerite Blais.
“This is huge, this is a huge commitment.”
Officials said the demand for home care and assisted living has grown since the beginning of the pandemic.
Today, there are 370,000 people receiving home care services in Quebec. Half of them are seniors, and the other half is made up of children and people with disabilities.
The hourly rates of their caregivers will be increased from $14.25 to $16.
The government hopes the increased wages will attract new applicants after swaths of home care workers were drawn into CHSLDs following government incentives during the summer.
ADVOCATE: "WE'VE BEEN PROMISED A LOT OF THINGS"
Disability rights activist France Rochon remembers that time well.
“It was worrisome,” said Rochon, who herself employs a home worker. “If I don’t get help, what am I going to do? What’s my quality of life going to be.”
Rochon says that it’s too early to know how much of a difference the added funding will make, considering the demand for home care is still so high.
“In the past years, we’ve been promised a lot of things,” she said.
-- With files from Gabrielle Fahmy
