In Quebec, even heat waves “double-speed”

Humans have found a way to get to the moon. They even defeated the deadly virus with vaccines. But in Quebec, is there no way to keep public schools and CHSLDs cool during heat waves?

However, we do know that brutal heat waves are occurring more frequently and earlier in the year.

However, while students in the private network have air-conditioned classes — including the children and teenagers of most elected officials — those in the public sector sweat it out in the middle of exam week.

The same goes for “our” seniors in CHSLDs, as the government calls them.

A big “progress”?

Affluent private residences for wealthy or more independent senior citizens are air-conditioned. In the antipodes, in CHSLDs, the already fragile health of residents is threatened by the intense heat in their rooms, many of which are still not air-conditioned.

Remember that CHSLDs include adults of all ages with intellectual and/or physical disabilities.

At CHSLDs, we are content to gather residents for a few hours a day in an air-conditioned common room. During the rest of the time, including night, they suffer from heat in their rooms. This is presented to us as a great “progress”…

Air-conditioned offices

In fact, we’ll keep coming back to the “customer experience” that the “top guns” of the Sainte-Québec agency tell us. For basic respect for the most vulnerable, we will also return.

However, if managers can find a way to cool their offices, even in so-called dilapidated buildings, why aren’t we doing the same for CHSLD residents and students on the public network?

M^e President of the Patient Safety Council Paul G. Brunet summed it up perfectly this week.

“Let us remember that users have the right to be as comfortable in their rooms as managers are in their offices. If the office is the manager’s workplace, the room is the user’s living environment.