ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: July 11, 1995
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Director of the Gathering Place, Social Planning
Community Services Group
SUBJECT: Funding for Health/Hygiene Service, Gathering Place
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council approve the receipt of $77,500 in annual
ongoing funding from the Ministry of Social Services to
Provide Health/Hygiene Service at the Gathering Place.
B. THAT Council authorize the Director of the Gathering Place
to use this funding to start up Health/Hygiene Service at
the Gathering Place at no cost to the City.
C. THAT Council request the Director of the Gathering Place to
report back on the success/difficulties of the
Health/Hygiene Department in a full report on the Gathering
Place due in early 1996.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of
A, B and C.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council, on February 3, 1994, approved a motion that any
recommendations for increased staff or enhanced programs be offset by
corresponding spending reductions or by increases in non-taxation
revenues, subject to Council discretions.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to provide Council with new information
about the Downtown South Gathering Place, to seek Council s approval
to receive $77,500 from the Ministry of Social Services, and to
allocate these funds to provide Health/Hygiene Service at the
Gathering Place.
PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS
The Director of the Gathering Place will not be creating any regular
full-time positions at this time. A pool of auxiliary hours (health
attendant positions subject to job evaluation by the General Manager
of Human Resource Services) will be operating this service during this
initial start-up and experimental period.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
This proposal will be fully funded by the Ministry of Social Services.
The Ministry has committed to $77,500 on an annual basis. This will
be sufficient to purchase start up equipment for the program and for
the staffing to provide the service for two or three days a week. A
fee of 3% of personnel cost is usually associated with provincially
funded Health programs. The administration fee should be waived for
this start up year due to the experimental nature of the program at
this time.
BACKGROUND
In an April 30, 1993 report to Council, the Director of the Gathering
Place reported that the residents of Downtown South had asked for
their new community centre to offer the following services:
1. Recreational and social space (weight room, gym, games
room, auditorium, TV lounge, arts & crafts space).
2. Low cost healthy dining (kitchen and coffee shop and
serving area).
3. A learning centre (classrooms, common space, computer
classroom).
4. "Health" services as per the Evelyne Saller Centre
(including laundromat, showers, delous-ing, luggage
storage, therapeutic tubs).
5. Library/reading room.
With the acceptance of a June 22, 1994 report, Council agreed to
provide operating costs for 55 to 60 hours per week of service at the
Gathering Place. This report covered the budgetary needs of the
services listed above except for:
- a learning centre (to be funded by the
Vancouver School Board;
- therapeutic baths (to be funded by the
Vancouver Foundation); and
- the Health/Hygiene Department (to be operated only upon
receipt of funds from the Province, Ministries of
Social Services and Health).
DISCUSSION
At the Evelyne Saller Centre, the Health/Hygiene Services are funded
100% by the Ministry of Social Services. Therefore, the Director of
the Gathering Place, back in 1993, approached the Ministry of Social
Services Area Manager, Mr. Gerry Mignault, in regard to funding the
same services at the Gathering Place. Though aware of the need and
supportive of the proposed services, Mr. Mignault insisted that the
Ministry of Health share 50% of the annual costs. And so began a long
(2 year) negotiation process, complicated by the decentralization of
Provincial Health services. When the Gathering Place opened its doors
to the community in late March, the Health/Hygiene Services remained
closed, awaiting funding.
Following the May 19, 1995, City Caucus meeting held at the Gathering
Place, the Mayor instructed the Director of the Gathering Place to
write directly to the Minister of Social Services. Her response
(Appendix A) was received at the Gathering Place on July 10, 1995.
Though unable to fund the entire Health/Hygiene Services, the Ministry
of Social Services has committed to $77,500 on an annual basis.
The amount of $77,500 is not enough to provide a fully operational,
fully staffed, open daily Health/Hygiene Services. But it is more
than enough to lease equipment, purchase supplies, and fund a pool of
health attendant auxiliary hours.
At the Saller Centre, an early attempt to operate a self-serve
laundromat failed because of abusive wear and tear on the machinery
due to difficult, distressed clientele. The Gathering Place is
cautiously optimistic that, under close supervision, many needy
community members can learn to operate the equipment with no more than
heavy use wear and tear. However, there are still many other elderly
and ill neighbour-hood residents who will require the kind of full
staff service provided by the Saller Centre. In addition, there is
the consideration of the role of volunteers who elsewhere in the
Gathering Place (kitchen, reading room, etc.) make so many things
possible. Some experimentation in hours and types of service is
required.
Mr. Mignault of Social Services is fully supportive of efforts to
experiment with the funding, to discover what the community actually
requires and what can actually be provided with available dollars. He
is determined, as is the Director of the Gathering Place, that efforts
must continue to have the Ministry of Health take on its fair share of
providing this important service to this disadvantaged community. He
is open to purchase or leasing of washers and dryers, and welcomes the
opportunity to offer the Community Volunteer Program incentive to
social assistance recipients who volunteer 10 hours per month at an
approved site.
CONCLUSION
The Health/Hygiene Services of the Gathering Place was amongst the
priority requirements identified by Social Planning in its needs
assessment of Downtown South.
The fully staffed, fully operational Health Department at the Evelyne
Saller Centre, has a 1995 budget of $192,000, all provided by the
Ministry of Social Services.
The Ministry of Social Services has committed $77,500 towards the
running of similar Health/Hygiene Services at the Gather-ing Place.
This is not enough to provide laundry and delousing services every
day, but it is enough to operate the Health Department two or three
days per week.
Because the clientele of Downtown South is different from that of the
Downtown Eastside, laundry and hygiene requirements may turn out to be
quite dissimilar at the Gathering Place. The need for staffing may
turn out to be more supervisory, less hands on. However, there is no
doubt that the Health/Hygiene Department in some form is required at
the Gathering Place - each day there are a dozen inquiries from street
kids, the homeless, and people living in SRO hotels.
With the grant from Social Services, the Gathering Place can provide
some services and experiment with hours of operation, staffing, use of
volunteers, etc. This is a beginning for the Health/Hygiene
Department.
Negotiations will continue with the Ministry of Health for additional
funding to allow the hygiene services to be operated up to six days a
week.
Upon his return from vacation in one month, Mr. Mignault and the
Director of the Gathering Place will work out the details of the
contract. At this point, Mr. Mignault has given verbal assurance that
the funding is annual (as per the Evelyne Saller Centre) and that he
poses no restrictions re lease or purchase of washers and dryers, or
in staffing and scheduling arrange-ments.
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