Premier Alison Redford asked Albertans to trust her with home care issues Tuesday.
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But Dr. Heidi Janz doesn't buy it. At all.
Premier Redford asks people
with disabilities to “trust” her government to meet their needs?
 |
| Heidi Janz |
Dr. Janz writes ...
Well, I’m sorry, Ms.
Redford, but, first of all, MY trust needs to be EARNED. And secondly, your
government has already broken my trust.
Your government broke my
trust when it allowed AHS to arbitrarily terminate the contracts of user-operated homecare services like Creekside
Support Services, which has provided me with high quality homecare for the past
seven years. Because our program is innovative and flexible, my aides were able
to provide me with personal care outside my home. This meant I could do things
like work as a professor at the University of Alberta and travel to
conferences. In retrospect, I can now see that I should have trusted
your government that the termination of my position due to cutbacks was actually
for my good. After all, now that I will no longer be able to receive homecare
services outside my actual apartment, I would likely have had to quit my job
now anyway—if I still had one.
Likewise, you want me to trust that the big-box, for-profit homecare providers whom you’ve now
contracted to provide my care, will provide me with the same quality of care as
our current healthcare aides, many of whom I’ve worked with for six years or more. And I suppose you
also want me to trust you that it’s
actually a GOOD THING that I will have absolutely no control over where, when, or by whom, my
homecare will be provided.
The sad fact is, Premier Redford, I don’t trust you. AT ALL.
But thanks for the laugh –
I really needed it!!
