Like many bloggers/advocates/activists, I have been awaiting word that Minna Mettinen-Kekalainen’s home care had actually resumed. The last news story about her situation was published when the first day of resumed care was still several days away.
Northern Life.ca has an update on Minna, a mixed bag of good news and progress still to be made:
A Sudbury woman facing a losing battle with Lou Gehrig’s Disease started receiving care once again Feb. 2 from the North East Community Care Access Centre (CCAC), but it was not the level of care she had been expecting.
In mid-November, Minna Mettinen-Kekalainen stopped receiving care from the local Community Care Access Centre after she refused to sign a contract that would prevent her from contacting the proper authorities if she wasn’t being given proper care.
When her care was reinstated Mettinen-Kekalainen had been expecting a nurse to provide care in the morning and afternoon. However, a nurse didn’t come until the evening.
She has written a letter to the CCAC about this. A representative of the CCAC said the organization cannot discuss issues with individual clients because of privacy legislation.
The print story has a link to longer video coverage, which can be viewed here.
Among other things (and I am paraphrasing/summarizing here), the nurse that arrived seemed to be doing the best that she could, but was operating from incomplete/incorrect medical orders. And the nurse, of course, is limited to what she can do – according to the instructions/orders she’s been given.
Hopefully, this is something that can be worked out fairly simply. Getting medical instructions corrected can’t be that big a deal – can it? Let’s hope not, anyway. –Stephen Drake