菲沙卫生局近宣布，从9月1起规定接受长期看护的耆老使用轮椅，需付25元月费，此举引发各界严词批评。
南三角洲选区独立省议员Vicki Huntington指出，她听到卫生局有这项规定的时候，简直「无言以对」。她说，住在疗养中心接受长期看护的长者，使用轮椅是为了方便活动，不应该对他们强收所谓的租用轮椅月费。
亨廷顿表示，25元月费看似不多，其实对有些只靠固定有限收入维生的老者，可能是一笔沉重负担。 她敦促菲沙卫生局应该取消这项轮椅收费政策，同时可以和她接洽，讨论为长期看护耆英筹募经费的事宜。
卑诗护士工会7日也发表声明，抨击卫生局的做法「僵硬」、「不通人情」，对有需要轮椅协助起居和活动的长者收费，完全不合理。
卫生局表示，轮椅收租费仅是一种正常化的措施，并非有意对长者带来压力和焦虑，而且真的付不起月租费的长者，还有通融的馀地。
# New wheelchair fees for care home seniors slammed
B.C.'s lone independent MLA says it's "absolutely outrageous" that Fraser Health will charge seniors in residential care homes a $25 monthly fee for the use of wheelchairs that until now have been provided for free.
Vicki Huntington blew the whistle on the new charge Thursday shortly after one of her Delta South constituents came into her office brandishing a notification letter from the health authority.
"It's just beyond the pale," Huntington said, demanding health officials scrap the plan to begin charging the wheelchair rental fee Sept. 1 in publicly funded care homes.
"To make you pay for what is an essential component of your health care in your latter years is absolutely outrageous," she said.
"It's like saying you have to rent your prosthetic leg from us on a monthly basis. It's something that has to be reconsidered and reconsidered immediately."
Fraser Health spokesperson Tasleem Juma called it a "nominal fee" for specialized custom wheelchairs that typically cost $1,000 to $3,500 and rent privately for $75 to $100.
The fee will go to maintain the cushions, wheels and ensure the wheelchairs remain in good working order.
Private care homes charge "much higher" amounts or require residents to purchase their own wheelchairs, Juma added.
She said lower-income care home residents who are exempted from MSP premiums or are on disability benefits are automatically exempt from the wheelchair fee and it can be waived in other cases where hardship is demonstrated.
Similar fees are already charged at other B.C. health authorities and Vancouver Coastal confirmed a $25 fee will be charged at care homes in that health region as well.
Fraser Health estimates 60 per cent of residential care home residents use wheelchairs provided by the facility.
"The objective here is obviously not to cause residents any hardship, anxiety or stress," Juma said. "It's to bring Fraser Health into line with provincial policy."
The province's Home and Community Care Policy Manual was updated last October and indicates residents "may" be charged for wheelchairs and various other personal use items.
Health ministry spokesman Ryan Jabs confirmed the fees are discretionary.
"It was not really prescriptive but the understanding was that facilities would be charging a certain amount for wheelchairs," he said.
Huntington said it's unacceptable, regardless of whether the province or Fraser Health is responsible.
"If it's a provincial policy the province ought to be absolutely ashamed of itself," she said. "I hope Fraser Health reconsiders and I hope the province steps in."
Seniors in publicly funded care homes already pay 80 per cent of their net income to the facility, she said, and are left with a comfort fund of $200 a month for shampoo and other incidentals.
"This $25 will come out of that," Huntington said. "I just find the whole thing indicative of the way health is being managed at some of these facilities."
# Fraser Health will charge a wheelchair fee in seniors homes
The $25 a month fee will go into effect September 1st
DELTA (NEWS1130) – The MLA for Delta South is upset after a decision by Fraser Health to start charging a fee to use a wheelchair in seniors’ homes.
News1130 has learned the charge will go into affect Sept. 1 and those who don’t pay $25 a month will have theirs taken away.
Vicki Huntington says wheelchairs are an essential item so those who can’t afford to pay that fee could wind up bed ridden.
“We’ve all observed steadily rising user fees in the health care system causing undue hardship on our most vulnerable,” says Huntington. “The latest decision by Fraser Health, to charge a $25 monthly fee for wheelchairs and wheelchair cushions has me speechless. It’s as if Fraser Health feels immobilizing the elderly to their beds is acceptable, while basic mobility rights are an elective service of our healthcare system.”
Huntington says on May 31, Fraser Health wrote to the residents of Mountain View Manor, notifying them of the fee. Residents have been told if they can’t afford it, they should meet with a social worker.
“The monthly fee might not seem like a lot to most people, but to the residents of Mountain View Manor, it is a major indignity and stress on their lives. We should not be telling our elders that basic mobility is a privilege they must pay for. In my opinion it’s a human right. They deserve so much more,” Huntington says.
Fraser Health calls it a nominal fee.
“But we realize many residents can’t afford that fee and if this $25 fee causes a hardship there are hardship waivers, if residents are currently getting disability benefits or receiving premium assistance,” says spokesperson Tasleem Juma.
She says the policy is being changed in order to maintain the wheelchairs, for things like replacing the cushions and fixing the tires.
Huntington is asking the health authority to meet with her to discuss an alternative way to raise money.