Health care has been under the media spotlight over the last several years; whether it's Covid, doctor shortages, lack of capacity, or the firing of the AHS board, there's been no shortage of activity around health services. However, an issue that's been present well before the recent pandemic challenges is care, funding, and accessibility for disabled Albertans.
This is a challenge for Albertans all across our province, but for rural communities like Strathmore, simply getting to the care locations can be an accessibility issue. Nichola Hamilton-Judson is a Supportive Roommate and parent of children with disabilities, and she says living on a farm 5 minutes outside of Strathmore has made accessibility a huge concern.
"Because we choose to be rural and because we have a different kind of care option based on the animal therapy and based on navigating within our home, we can't care for individuals who have accessibility issues because we don't have the additional funding for accessibility within our home, but we also don't have a handi-bus that is available to us rurally at a subsidized cost," Hamilton-Judson said.
The Strathmore Hospital also doesn't provide some of the supports needed, so Hamilton-Judson said she often has to go to Rockyview Hospital, Alberta Children's Hospital, or Foothills Hospital. This creates an accessibility issue on two fronts: Strathmore doesn't have some of the supports needed so she needs to go to Calgary, but getting to Calgary itself is a challenge. Hamilton-Judson said if funding was given to the Strathmore Hospital for additional care that would be a huge step in the right direction, as well as providing rural communities transportation like handi-bus at a subsidized cost.
These accessibility issues prevented Hamilton-Judson from welcoming Keely McConville from Calgary into her home as well to be a Supportive Roommate for her. Since McConville lives in Calgary, she said getting to the care facilities has not been a big problem, but the accessibility issues go well beyond simply getting to the facility itself.
McConville is one of many disabled Albertans who struggles to make ends meet. She's in a wheelchair and has several other health conditions, including apneic episodes. McConville explained that finding funding and supports has been a challenge for her, due to restrictions and red tape around the criteria needed to access them.
“I find that I don't fit into many of the boxes that the funding fits. So they ask for certain categories that you have to fit into, and I don't fit into a neat, pretty little box. I'm either too old or too young or too high of IQ or too physically disabled or too medically disabled. It's just one thing or another that bars me from help often more often than not,” she said.
Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) has not been enough for McConville to live comfortably, as she said her annual income is around $20 000, which puts her below the poverty line of an annual income of $26 000. Other supports, like the Alberta Aids to Daily Living (AADL), can only cover so much as well. McConville learned this the hard way when she needed to get a new wheelchair.
“They (AADL) said that the category (of wheelchair) is too far above and beyond what they would cover. They'd only cover a portion, or I could go with a lower category chair, but a lower category chair wouldn't suit my needs for my physical condition and activity level. So it would actually cause me physical harm to go with a lower category chair. It was a no win situation for me.”
With troubles accessing funding and supports due to what McConville says is excessive red tape while also living below the poverty line, McConville has had to make difficult choices to stay afloat, including having a near non-existent food budget and relying on foodbanks. She said if she was able to access more funding and not be forced into difficult financial situations, it would greatly benefit both her and the government.
"I often have to pick between food, medication, rent, or my IV supplies. And it would save the government in the long run, because there's been times I've skipped out on IV supplies and reused my old stuff and ended up with infections and ended up in the hospital which cost them thousands of dollars a day, where it would have cost them maybe $10.00 for new IV supplies.”
While living below the poverty line is already a challenge, the extra costs that come with being disabled only makes things harder, which greatly increases the need for funding. As for people who may say we shouldn't give 'free money' to the disabled, McConville says she would gladly refuse the money if it meant she could have her health.
"People wonder why we complain. They're like ‘you're given free money,’ but we struggle for every dollar we get and it's not free money, we suffer every day in pain. It's something I wouldn't wish on anybody. I did work at one point and had a bit better health and I would give anything to go back to work.”
As for what can be done to address these issues, McConville says a big start would be reducing red tape around who can access funding. Removing the strict restrictions around these would be huge for her. Some things are already being done as well by the government, such as re-indexing AISH, and the Inflation Relief Act, which will give $600 to many different groups of Albertans. While these help, McConville says the best way to help is to fund preventative care, meaning funding to keep Albertans out of the hospital, rather than what she said is a "stop-gap solution" in the Inflation Relief Act.
Strathmore Now reached out to the Minister of Health Jason Copping who is currently in caucus this week for comment, but received no response at the time.
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Wed, May 8, 10:00 AM
