The latest on Minna Mettinen-Kekalainen:
From the story:
For the last three weeks, Mettinen-Kekalainen has taken her fight with the CCAC public in media interviews — even going as far as staging a brief hunger strike to protest the fact she has not been receiving home care.
The CCAC has been unable to say much about the case because of privacy and confidentiality laws, but Mettinen- Kekalainen has been vocal about being asked to sign an agreement with the agency not to threaten or harass home-care workers who visit her.
Mettinen-Kekalainen has said the CCAC interpreted her threat to report nurses for not following her doctor’s orders to the Ontario College of Nurses as harassing and abusive behaviour.
When the woman refused to sign the agreement, services were withdrawn, she said, although the CCAC has said it does not deny services to anyone who needs them.
Gelinas became involved in Mettinen-Kekalainen’s case after Sudbury Star stories about how the woman was living alone, being fed through a gastric tube inserted in her stomach and not being bathed regularly or having her adult diapers changed.
Mettinen-Kekalainen has been termed a palliative patient by her family physician and she is confined to a wheelchair and hospital bed in her home — often on life-supporting oxygen.
The article notes that Gelinas is feeling optimistic after getting more involved:
Gelinas, the NDP’s health critic, was heartened this week after speaking on the phone with North East CCAC executive director Richard Joly about Mettinen- Kekalainen’s case.
While files such as this are confidential, Mettinen- Kekalainen authorized the MPP to have access to personal information to help resolve the dispute.
Gelinas said Tuesday she got involved in the woman’s case, although she is not a constituent of her riding, because she didn’t want her to go without care any longer.
The rookie MPP acknowledged that Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci had done “good work advocating for Minna,” but she said her years of working in the health-care industry gave her an advantage in dealing with Mettinen- Kekalainen’s case.
“I’m very optimistic we will have been successful.”
The article also includes some interesting discussions of the criticisms Gelinas has leveled against the bidding system and bureaucracy in home care services – and the less than gracious reactions to her criticisms by others in government.
Finally, I want to provide clarification about something in a previous post. I referred to MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis as a “self-described NDP Health Critic.”
In a comment to the post, I received the following clarification:
To clarify, Ms. Wasylycia-Leis is the MP appointed by her party, the NDP, to act as their official voice in criticising the health policies put forward by the Canadian government, which is currently controlled by the Conservative party.
Ms. Wasylycia-Leis and the official health critics chosen by the Liberal party and the Bloc Québecois are the opposition counterparts to the Minister of Health, who is a Conservative MP.
The person who left the comment also said that my original phrasing – with the use of “self-described” – sounded snide. Reading it again, I can see how it would be interpreted that way. It was not my intention. Rather, it was a combination of typing too hastily and my large amount of ignorance regarding Canadian government. I am sorry for any impression I gave of trying to discredit or disrespect Ms. Wasylycia-Leis. –Stephen Drake
Good news that Minna Mettinen-Kekalainen’s story and fight are making progress and news.
On language and communication:
To me, “self-described” and “self-defined” has a positive meaning, for example: I have considered artists who are professional artists and disabled, as self-defined, and/or self-described, since April, 1985.
To me, it means what it says, but no doubt, there are language differences from English speaking country to English speaking country. (I have a pal in England.)
Alas, “confined to wheelchair” has crossed borders. I had a letter in the NYTimes, letter to the editor, in 1986 pointing out that the AP phrase book, at that time, suggested “wheelchair user”, which I prefer, as do most of us. I smile, at “confined to wheelchair and bed” in the story. Simultaneously? I have a visual of that.