Nearly 60 per cent of rooms in CHSLDs have air-conditioning, association says

A resident walks along a corridor at Idola Saint-Jean long-term care home in Laval, Que., Friday, February 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

The number of air-conditioned rooms in Quebec's CHSLDs continues to rise, but there is still a significant proportion of units without air conditioning, according to the Association québécoise des retraités des secteurs public et parapublic (AQRP).

Nearly 60 per cent of CHSLD residents had access to an air-conditioned room in 2023, according to data compiled by the AQRP and published on Monday.

This represents a slight increase of 2.3 percentage points compared with 2022. Over the past 10 years, the percentage of air-conditioned rooms has risen steadily, from 8 per cent to 59 per cent.

While this progression seems to demonstrate a desire to ensure better air conditioning in CHSLDs, the fact remains that some 40 per cent of the network's rooms lack air conditioning, said AQRP provincial president Paul-René Roy.

"In a period of extreme heat like the one we've experienced, it poses problems for residents with reduced mobility because even if there are common rooms that are air-conditioned, there are people who have enormous difficulty getting around," he said in an interview.

While heatwaves mainly affect southern Quebec, Roy pointed out that the need for air conditioning is just as legitimate for more northern regions.

"We saw this year with the forest fires that air quality can also be affected. So it's important that all these people have access to some form of air conditioning inside their rooms," he said.

The association's findings are based on an access-to-information request sent to all CISSS and CIUSSS last May. Five did not respond, including Lanaudière, Chaudière-Appalaches and Gaspésie.

The CIUSSS with the lowest ratio of air-conditioned rooms is Centre-de-l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, at 18.5 per cent. At the top of the list are the three CISSSs in the Montérégie, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and Îles-de-la-Madeleine regions, plus the CIUSSS de la Mauricie-et-du-Centre-du-Québec, with a ratio of 100 per cent or close to it.

FOCUS ON COMMON SPACES

The AQRP pointed out that the CHSLD network has seen "an explosion" in requests for private air conditioners this year, with more than 4,800 requests. Roy said, however, that his organization's survey did not reveal how many of these requests were accepted. AQRP points out that, based on the statistics obtained, establishments seem to give greater priority to air-conditioning common areas than rooms, while most CHSLDs have at least one air-conditioned common room.

The association gives the example of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, where the majority of nursing homes have installed equipment to cool at least one common area. Conversely, the percentage of air-conditioned units in this region dropped significantly following the addition of available rooms. It fell from 57 per cent in 2022 to 36.48 per cent in 2023, according to AQRP.

Roy believes that Quebec needs to put in place a "comprehensive plan" to eventually equip all rooms with air conditioning, especially in the context of climate change.

"Experts are saying that heat waves are going to be much more frequent and probably much heavier to bear," he said.

The office of the Minister responsible for Seniors, Sonia Bélanger, says in a statement that "more than $420 million is being invested since 2021 in functional renovations, with envelopes that are available ... for, among other things, adding air-conditioning systems."

The minister's office also mentions that air conditioning is now free for residents, and that all new construction in seniors' housing has central air conditioning systems.

The AQRP is also calling on the Legault government to adopt strategies, such as developing guides, to better prepare seniors in CHSLDs to guard against the health effects of extreme heat.

"We know that in British Columbia, there is a specific guide that has been set up. It's something the minister might want to look at, because it could be an interesting tool for residents of CHSLDs where there isn't air conditioning in all the rooms," Roy said.

Minister Bélanger's office, for its part, states that "all establishments already have protocols in place for extreme heat."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on July 10, 2023.