Lucie Bruneau rehabilitation centre's survival threatened, users warn

Patients and staff atarehabilitation centre on the Plateau Mont-Royalsay a planned reorganization threatens the very programs and services that help the centre'spatients live independently once again.

The Centre Radaptation Lucie Bruneaucares forpeople with severe handicapswho no longer need to be in an acute-carehospital settingbut need to learn how to adjust to their disability.

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The CIUSSS-Centre-Sud-de-l'le-de-Montraloversees theLucie Bruneau centre.

Last month, management told staff and patients it plans on moving several programs to another rehabilitation facility in Cote-des-Neiges.

"I was at first surprised," saidMonika Throner, the head of thepatientscommitteefor Lucie Bruneau's 8,000 users. "Now I am angry. I am really angry about the whole thing."

Throner is a quadriplegic and did her rehabilitation at Lucie Bruneau. She still uses many of its services and has sat on the board of directors.

In 2011, saidThroner, there was talk ofstreamlining administrative services, but that didn'tinclude taking programs away.

Since Bill 10 was introduced lastspring, however, Throner saidthat's all changed.

Live-in program to close

The Lucie Bruneaucentre,nestled in the Plateau on Laurier Avenue,focuses on giving newly disabled patients the skills and confidence they need to adapt to their new lives

There are specialized programs for patients with brain and spinal cord injuries and a live-in residence with18wheelchair-accessible rooms, completely renovated a few years ago.

Patients stay there until they are ready to move out on their own. Some of the beds are also used as short-term respite, as needed.

The CIUSSScontendsabout half the rooms are empty and have been for years. It recentlyannounced the live-in residence at Lucie Bruneau will be closed, and 10 beds will open up at the L'Institut de radaptation Gingras-Lindsay-de-Montral,Quebec's largest rehabilitation hospital, inCte-des-Neiges.

The union which represents the Lucie Bruneau centre's support workers saidmanagement is also talking about moving other programs to the larger centre.

"(If that happens) all that will be left is access to the pool and gym," said union presidentSylvie Vendette."Lucie Bruneau, in a way, will die. If you start to move programs to a place with a more medical orientation, certain services are at risk of disappearing."

'A secure place'

For former patient Stphanie Keegan, news that the live-in residence is moving is worrisome.

She broke her neck in a 2002 accident that left her with paralysis from the chest down.

"When I went to Lucie Bruneau, it was a whole different world," saidKeegan. "You learn to be very independent, to live a life outside, in the world."

Keegan saidthe centrefelt more like a home than a hospital. Staff pushed residentsto try things she never thought she'd ever do - waterskiing, sailing and kayaking.

"It was a secure place with people you know, and so afterwards you can say, I can do that," saidKeegan.

At the time, Keegan had a young daughter. She learned how to look after her again, as well as practical skills focusedon everything from how to look for a job to how to hire care workers and how to order medication.

Two years after the accident, Keegan was able to move into her own home with her daughter. She saidthere is no way that would have happened without her experience at Lucie Bruneau.

"I don't know if I would be as happy or free as I am now," saidKeegan. "OK, I'm in a wheelchair, that's a bummer, but it's life."

She's skeptical that the caring environment atLucie Bruneau can be replicated at the much bigger institution, Gingras-Lindsay.

She's worried patients won't get the same attention she got and will end up in an assisted-living facilityinstead of on their own.

A need to end duplication: CIUSSS

The CIUSSS-Centre-Sud-de-l'le-de-Montral saidthe goal of theplannedchanges is to provide continuity of services andtoget rid of duplication.

Nathalie Charbonneau is its assistant director for physical disabilities.

She defends the changes and saidthere is broad, ongoing consultation with staff and users.

She saidshe doesn't yethave a final tally on whichprograms will stay and which will disappear,but sheinsists, while there will be savings, the changes aren't financially driven.

Charbonneau understands people are nervous.

"The location of some activities, that may change," saidCharbonneau. "But the mission, the same quality of services, the services will be offered in the same way they are offered now."

Charbonneau saidrenovations will need to be done at Gingras-Lindsay to accommodate the live-in residents.

"There will be no transfer before we are sure we can reproduce the same rehabilitation based on social integration," saidCharbonneau. "We will not compromise on that."

Throner, however, doesn't put much faith in thosepromises.

She's made an official complaint about the plannedchanges. A petition is underway, and protests are planned in the coming weeks.