Editor’s note: This letter was sent to MP Tony Clement, MPP Norm Miller and copied to this newspaper.
I recently broke my wrist and was trying to get some assistance to help with personal care and light housekeeping.
My doctor sent a request to Community Care Access Centre and I was told by CCAC that unless I had cancer, was dying, or using a walker that I didn’t qualify.
The care was more for people dying so they could stay at home. They told me just to wrap a towel around my arm to help keep my cast dry. They said they could give me the names of private care providers, which I would have to pay for on my own.
If I did qualify for care, it would be a six-month waiting list and they had no money available to provide services like I needed.
So the run around began.
Being independent, single and living alone makes it even harder to ask for help. I am part-time self-employed because of previous shoulder injuries so now with a broken wrist it is impossible to shower and get dressed and do housework without help.
So what does one do when they can’t get the help and cannot afford private care because they can’t work? I tried several different avenues but all private care is either $27 to $30 per hour or can be less but with a minimum of two hours.
One personal worker referred me to Red Cross who couldn’t help and referred me to Community Health Care who couldn’t help me as I didn’t qualify since I wasn’t in the system already and to apply it would be at least a year wait so they referred me back to Red Cross.
I do have family and friends who are wonderful but I don’t feel it is fair to impose on them for eight to 10 weeks. I thought the purpose of cutting back on hospital care was to allow more health care for those who need it at home, but apparently that is not the case — just another political ploy to get votes.
I will manage somehow with help from family and friends but definitely not from help from our home health-care system. Mind you I may not have as many friends after the next 10 weeks!
What about people who have no family to help them out, what do they do? From a concerned citizen regarding our future in home health care.
Joanne Cunnington
Lake of Bays