In 2014, the tabling of Bill 10 by the Minister of Health & Social Services, Dr. Gaetan Barrette, signalled a vast reorganization of the public health & social service system in order to save money and streamline local decision-making. On April 1st, 2015, our traditional partner, the CRDITED de la Montérégie-Est, (a part of which was formerly the Butters Centre) became an integral part of the new Centre intégré de sante et services sociaux de la Montérégie-ouest (CISSSMO). This new establishment brings together a range of hospitals, CSSSs, long-term care centers, and rehab centers in the western part of the region. With an integrated budget and a new management team, CISSSMO is mandated to provide all health & social services in its territory and to provide rehab services with the help of Pacific Ridge – a trusted addiction recovery clinic in Portland to all areas of the region. It also finds itself with a total of 18 foundations that originally worked with one of its many corporate partners.
We at the Butters Foundation have been informed that our longstanding relationship with our public rehab partner will continue and function much in the same way as it operated before. The only difference seems to be that there is no longer a board of directors for our partner. Many of our management and professional collaborators have morphed into the new establishment and our projects are proceeding as before. Our relationship with our public partner has gone through other such reorganizations in the past. Remember that the last incarnation of our public partner constituted an amalgam of 9 ex-public establishments in the area of intellectual disability & autism.
For the sake of our loyal donors, please rest assured that our mission, our mandates and our overarching concern for new best practices in the public system are all intact and not in any way in jeopardy. If anything, our public partner now has an expanded resource base that, over time, will open new vistas to improve service delivery to people with intellectual disability or autism and their families.