|
Concerns of People with Disabilities During COVID-19 Immediate Need for Government Action to Support People with Disabilities and People Receiving Home CareThe government of British Columbia has responded to the crisis in long-term care facilities that existed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic but has been thrust into the spotlight by virtue of the number of facilities experiencing outbreaks and the high proportion of deaths from COVID-19 in long-term care facilities. Orders were issued by the Provincial Health Officer on March 26 that are meant to ensure that workers will only work in one long-term care facility. More is needed, including guarantees of personal protective equipment, child care for workers, etc., and workers and health care unions continue to fight for what is necessary. In all the measures that have been taken by the provincial and federal governments, the extremely difficult situation facing people with disabilities and others receiving home care has received no attention. In British Columbia there are no directives regarding measures necessary to protect the health and well-being of the home care workers and the people receiving the service, with the consequence that throughout the province there are a myriad of protocols and some workers report that they have received no instructions at all as to how to protect themselves and those they care for. Such services are provided by the public Health Authorities as well as by a number of agencies that are based on providing services for private profit.
It is unconscionable that the provincial government has not only failed to address the needs of British Columbians with disabilities, particularly those who manage their own care, but has allowed the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation and has failed to communicate with BC's Individualized Funding Resource Centre Society (IFRC). The organization was established by CSIL employers -- individuals and families of people with disabilities and seniors who receive CSIL funding -- to help them succeed on the CSIL program and other individualized funding programs in BC. At this time, when there is open discussion about rationing of care should the pandemic overwhelm the capacity of the health care system to provide the necessary care for everyone, people with disabilities are raising the alarm. Advocates, including people with disabilities, point out that even in 'normal' times, the issue of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) is presented to people with disabilities when no one would even think of having such a conversation with others.
On March 28, the Association of CSIL Employers (ACE) wrote to the Ministry of Health requesting that the Ministry: 1. Clarify and communicate to the respective health authorities and the CSIL community the impact and effect of orders of our provincial health officer as it relates to community care in British Columbia; 2. Permit individuals on the CSIL program the ability to hire immediate family members during this pandemic; 3. Temporarily suspend the requirement to obtain prior approval to utilize agencies for emergency staffing; 4. Ensure that sufficient supplies of medical equipment, i.e. masks, gloves, sanitizer, cleaning supplies, are available to high risk CSIL employers and their staff and that the costs associated with these supplies and/or medical equipment is accessible and supplemented through current or additional CSIL funding; 5. Ensure that CSIL employers have access to additional funding from their respective health authority to manage emergency employment circumstances such as in situations where staff is unable to come into work; 6. Ensure that CSIL employers have the ability to have their employees, should they be comfortable, accompany them if hospitalized; 7. Ensure that ACE is engaged in all decision-making process as it relates to CSIL employers. The Ministry of Health and the Health Authorities must immediately take action to implement these demands.
This article was published in   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
Besides those who
receive home care through the Health Authorities
or private agencies, there are over 1,200 people
with disabilities and seniors who receive
government funding to hire, train and manage
their care providers. In some cases the
individual receiving the care is the employer,
in some cases it is the family of an individual
receiving care. The provincial government
program that provides the funding is Choice in
Supports for Independent Living (CSIL). Many
individuals require 24-hour attendant care and
in most cases hire several caregivers. Many
caregivers work for more than one employer which
can include other CSIL employers, agencies,
Health Authorities, long-term care facilities,
and more. The orders that have been issued by
the Provincial Health Officer make no reference
to home care workers or to CSIL employers, which
has created a situation of confusion. One of the
five Health Authorities, Island Health, has sent
a letter to CSIL employers on Vancouver Island
implying that the "one employer" order regarding
long-term care facilities will also be applied
to CSIL employers and employees. The letter
states "Island Health needs to have some staff
identifier information from you so that we can
collate and determine a plan to assign staff a
single site. [...] This is the information we
request from you to support our attempts to
limit or reduce worker mobility from one site to
another during the current public health
emergency and the serious hazards that may
result from workers traveling between sites if
they have been exposed to infection." Neither
the Provincial Health Officer nor any other
Health Authority has contacted CSIL employers.
Workers who have been instructed that they have
to choose "one site" if they work in long-term
care do not know whether they would be able to
continue to work in home care or for a CSIL
employer if they choose one long-term care
facility as their "one site."
One of these advocates is Paul
Gauthier, the Executive Director of the IFRC
Society. Speaking to Workers' Forum
about the very real danger facing people with
disabilities today, Paul said, "I am shocked and
appalled a lot of times that the system is
feeling that it's okay to talk about MAiD so
quickly. Most people with disabilities that
choose to use MAiD do so because they are not
getting the appropriate supports to start with,
and so they don't want to be a burden to their
family, they don't want to be a burden to
society and so what ends up happening is that
they feel that this is the only alternative. I
think more and more people are starting to use
that option because the system isn't providing
enough home support hours for people to be able
to live, not just getting up and going to bed at
night, but the quality of life that needs to
happen during the day." Canadians, not just
people with disabilities and their advocates,
reject the characterization that any human being
is a "burden" on the health care system, that
some lives are less valuable than others, that
some are dispensable. Seniors, adults and
children with chronic health conditions and
physical and developmental disabilities have a
right to the best health care society can
provide.