Norm Macdonald MLA Columbia River – Revelstoke
MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release
July 7th, 2008
IH breaks commitment to provide home support to disabled Revelstoke man
Revelstoke resident Mark Franklin is a man who depends on Interior Health (IH) home support services to live independently in his own home, yet IH is removing those services on July 11th. Mr. Franklin relies on these services for his most basic needs including getting in and out of bed.
Without the services of IH home support, Mr. Franklin, who is a young man with a disability, will be forced into hospital as he is unable to care for himself without professional assistance.
“Interior Health has a responsibility to provide home support,” declared Norm Macdonald, MLA for Columbia River – Revelstoke. “In this case, IH is behaving like home support services are a privilege, not a right.
“We pay for healthcare in the same way we pay for policing and highway maintenance and government has a simple obligation to provide those services.”
Interior Health claims that they can not continue to provide service because of a lack of skilled workers in the Revelstoke area but Macdonald doesn’t agree with this premise.
“Interior Health has a responsibility to meet the needs of their clients; it is not the responsibility of the client to adjust to Interior Health’s staffing issues.”
Mr. Franklin has indicated that he is willing to work out any issues with Interior Health in order to maintain service even if this means managing on his own with less service.
“Mr. Franklin has offered to make whatever concessions are necessary to maintain IH services as he knows the removal of service will force him into an institution,” continued Macdonald. “Mr. Franklin is working hard to maintain his independence and remain in his own home. IH’s own documents claim to support independent living options for people with disabilities but instead they are offloading their staff management problems onto their clients and I just don’t find that acceptable.”