In the province I live in there is a Home Care program – it is NOT income based, but based on health needs. Among the services they provide are nursing care, personal aids for assistance with bathing and dressing, cooking services and home cleaning. I have had various services during the years. In the past 5 years I broke both of my hips and had 2 more surgeries for hip replacements. I also have severe back problems and cannot bend over far enough to do some household chores such as changing my sheets and vacuuming. I have had cleaning services for several years – which is one hour every 2 weeks. You are assessed yearly by a “case coordinator”. At one time these coordinators were all RN’s and now they have mainly social workers doing the job. How a social worker can assess medical needs is beyond me. I recently was assigned a new coordinator and from the minute she walked in, I just felt in my bones that she was a “cholerya”. She looked around and said:”you live in a nice place and have such beautiful furniture and ornaments. I find it very difficult to believe that you cannot afford to pay for your own household cleaning.” Like an idiot, I began telling her that I inherited a lot of things, that I used to have a house and a husband and a good job, but now I am on a fixed income. It was none of her business (I later found out) and when I said that paying for help would be a hardship, that should have been enough. After she left, I got angrier and angrier. I made it my business to find out who her supervisor was and I wrote a letter to her (with a cc to the cholerya) documenting the entire visit. I received a phone call in less than a week and things were ironed out. So, you can’t judge people by what they have because nobody knows what financial position they are presently in. Yes, there are many abuses of the system but I think that even if for every 3 abuses, there is a genuine person in need, that is how it must be. You cannot judge a book by its cover.
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