Several new developments since yesterday – or some new aspects to ones already in the works.
First, as I’m writing this, students are staging a protest in Sudbury to raise awareness and keep the pressure up in regard to Minna Mettinen- Kekalainen and the total lack of care and support she is living with as she struggles with advanced ALS.
From yesterday’s Sudbury Star, is the story “Community to protest patient’s plight”:
Laurentian University social work students will stage a day-long protest Friday to keep attention focused on the plight of a Sudbury woman with ALS who says she is being denied home-care services she desperately needs.
The students will demonstrate in front of Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci’s office from 8 a. m. to noon, then march to the North East Community Care Access Centre in the Rainbow Centre for a demonstration until 4 p. m. to raise awareness about the case of Minna Mettinen- Kekalainen.
Bartolucci, mentioned in the article above, has responded in a way that has been less than satisfactory. Fortunately, another MPP (MPP = Member of Provincial Parliament) has decided that someone needs to step up to the plate:
New Democrat Health critic France Gelinas is determined to get to the bottom of a dispute between the North East Community Care Access Centre and a woman who says she is being denied home care.
Minna Mettinen-Kekalainen, 42, who has ALS, says the centre is refusing to provide her nursing and personal support care after she threatened to report nurses hired by a contract agency of the centre for failing to follow her doctor’s orders.
Why did it take her this long to get involved? Simple. Minna is actually represented by a different MPP – that would be Mr. Bartolucci, mentioned above.
Gelinas, the Nickel Belt MPP, says she can’t stand by and watch Mettinen-Kekalainen struggle on her own. She said she was reluctant to get involved at first because the woman lives in the Sudbury riding represented by Liberal MPP Rick Bartolucci.
The rookie MPP said she tread carefully when Mettinen- Kekalainen’s story first appeared in The Star two weeks ago, but Thursday she said she has waited long enough for a resolution.
For an example of unimpressive representation, here are some quotes from Mr. Bartolucci’s office:
When contacted in Toronto on Thursday, an aide to Bartolucci, who is also Community Safety and Correctional Services minister, said Bartolucci was not available for comment.
Laura Blondeau said while Bartolucci “cannot publicly discuss details of the case, Mr. Bartolucci is very confident that his constituency office staff has bent over backwards to help this individual. He has closely monitored the situation and is certain that everything that can be done by his office, is being done.
“This is consistent with the approach Mr. Bartolucci and his dedicated constituency staff demonstrate on a daily basis,” said Blondeau in a written statement. (emphasis added)
Was the irony in this official statement intentional, or is it just me?
More here from MPP Gelinas:
Gelinas said she does not blame the centre for denying care to the Sudbury woman, but is angry at the private nursing agency that is refusing to provide care.
Private agencies “have refused care to a whole bunch of people and now they feel entitled to do that,” said Gelinas, a harsh critic of for-profit nursing agencies being hired by community care access centres across the province.
“How can they do this? It feels like if a client is difficult, and if there is no money in it, they say, ‘The heck with her.’
“If a woman as outspoken as Mettinen-Kekalainen is being denied home care, “how many frail seniors are being denied care?” asked Gelinas.
To me, this is the most promising development to date. Gelinas is not only advocating for Minna, but treating her as the visible tip of a large iceberg – a large group of neglected people who aren’t prone to raise a fuss and just suffer in silence.
I’d also like to recommend this op-ed by Carol Mulligan, the reporter who has been writing the articles about Minna’s situation and her struggles. Here’s a sample:
ALS is eating away at Minna Mettinen-Kekalainen’s body, but it would not surprise me if she died of a broken heart. As I lace up my boots and leave her home, I cannot imagine leaving a sick dog alone in conditions like those in which I am leaving Minna.
If she were an animal, I could call animal welfare authorities to rescue her. It’s not that easy to find help for a desperately ill woman.
While I always get a little queasy when animal metaphors are used in relation to humans – especially old, ill and disabled humans – this is a refreshing change from the “we’d put a dog down if she were like this” that I am used to reading.
Not only that, but she’s right. There seems to be an explosion in “no-kill” shelters for abandoned, neglected and abused animals. Be nice to see a similar move in that direction for humans. –Stephen Drake
To me, the most promising elements are:
Minna M-K is being taken seriously.
Her words are considered as
from who she is, an adult who
knows what she wants and needs
and is saying so, by word/deed.
A journalist, another woman, is
taking her seriously.
A politician is paying attention.
There is at least one politician and one journalist supporting attendant/nursing care at home for disabled individuals who want it.
(My concern was that someone would have said “lock her up”.)