The province is moving towards providing financial assistance for travel and living costs Islanders accrue when travelling off P.E.I. to receive an organ transplant, says the provincial director of medical programs.
Dr. Richard Wedge told The Guardian Wednesday that developing a program to more fairly compensate Islanders who must leave the Island to undergo transplant surgery has the attention of Health Minister Carolyn Bertram.
"All I know is she is very keen on this particular (potential) program,'' said Wedge. "That tends to move it along faster.''
Wedge says no specific program under the province's Health Department currently covers the travel and living costs Islanders face when leaving P.E.I. to undergo a transplant. He says some assistance can be accessed by low-income Islanders through Social Services.
A review ordered by the Health minister a couple of months ago showed there is no consistency in how this issue is dealt with across Canada, he said.
"I think it is fair to say that most provinces are trying to deal with what they realize is a bit of an unfair situation,'' he added.
Wedge says information has been gathered from all provinces, which will be assessed and presented to senior management in the Health Department here, then passed directly to the Health minister's desk.
Opposition Leader Olive Crane notes neighbouring provinces already cover housing costs for transplant recipients who have to reside in another province while they are awaiting their transplant. Nova Scotia pays up to $1,500 a month and New Brunswick will pay up to $1,000 a month, she said.
Wedge says both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick just recently announced this new coverage.
Crane is urging the province to assist a Stratford woman with her living expenses while in Toronto waiting to undergo a potentially life-saving organ transplant.
"I asked the former health minister, Doug Currie, in the legislature last fall to help cover the living expenses for Melissa MacPhail, 31, who must undergo a double lung transplant,'' Crane said in a statement.
"The minister told the house that he had an out-of-province budget of $35 million and although I understand they did assist with travel expenses, and some of the costs for her oxygen, there is no assistance to help cover the living expenses for Melissa, her mom and five-year-old son to live in Toronto, possibly for a year or more.''
Crane stressed that MacPhail has no choice but to live in Toronto - home to the closest centre for Atlantic Canadians who are receiving lung transplants.
"Melissa must be able to get to the hospital within 2 1/2 hours, once her beeper goes off, which will notify her of a possible donor,'' said Crane. "This centre will not do transplants if the person is not able to live there.''
The Opposition leader is calling on the provincial government to not only help MacPhail with her living expenses but also to review its policy on coverage for all Islanders who have to travel off-Island for transplants.
As noted, Wedge says the province is in the process of just such a review.
MacPhail says the province told her months ago that they were trying to find some way to help her.
"That is just talk,'' she told The Guardian Wednesday. "I need to see some proof.''
MacPhail has been living in Toronto for the past two months. She estimates her living expenses run about $2,000 a month. Her wait for a donor to be found could be months, even years, meaning living expenses adding up into the tens of thousands of dollars. She has already met three people who have been waiting two years for a lung transplant.
"The hard part is the waiting right now and worrying about how we are going to live here,'' she said.
Some fundraising has been done to help cover her living expenses in Toronto.
She says many people from the Maritimes are in Toronto awaiting a lung transplant. She believes she is currently the only Islander - and the only one not receiving assistance from her province for living expenses.
P.E.I. developing program to compensate Islanders who must leave for transplants
P.E.I. developing program to compensate Islanders who must leave for transplants
- Published on April 1st, 2010
- Published on June 15th, 2010
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Jim Day
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Comments
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- To Helen Joe BC
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:24:32
My sentiments exactly. Thank you.
Maybe international publicity is what it will take to save Canadian lives! -
- Juke
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:08:04
Since 1964 with the passage of the Canada Health Act, Canadians have had the right to have their lives saved by the health care system without facing personal impoverishment. Ms. MacPhail is deserving and should be helped by the government of her home province. That is the most important point in this story for sure.
But, as an important secondary point, this Guardian story offers an insight on the political bias of the media, whether intended or not.
This story is written with a headline and lead paragraphs that suggest that the PEI government is diligently working on the problem. This does not fit with the reality of the time frame on the MacPhail case. Nor does it frankly state who is taking vigilant action here. It is Crane and MacPhail who are being vigilant, not the government.
The CBC covered this story yesterday morning with the headline- Transplant Patient Needs Province's Help: Crane. Today's Guardian story includes the government lines on the issue
( which is of course appropriate) but goes much further, spinning the story as diligent government action and burying Crane and MacPhail deep in the story, many many paragraphs into the article.
Crane indicates she questioned then Health Minister Doug Currie on this last fall. The precise date in the Hansard is December 3rd. So here we are a full four months later and we see the Guardian give the provincial government a free pass instead of what should be a much clearer, stronger and much much more critical article.
MacPhail is in great difficulty and is obvioulsy not a stupid human being. She is very perturbed at the delay for something she knows other Maritimers and other Canadians are getting. Your article may fool some people but it will not fool her.
Everybody on PEI, especially the experienced people at the Guardian, know fully well that on PEI it does not take 4 months to deal with something in the PEI government. This does not take legislation or even a Cabinet meeting. These guys could have taken care of this by the time Ghiz changed up his Cabinet in the second week of January. If the powers that be want something done in this province it does not take 4 months to do it.
The Guardian should have done a much more critical story- including the dates- with the lead being Crane and MacPhail and not this thinly veiled cover up for Carolyn Bertram and Doug Currie.
There is a definite pattern here.
Though you have chosen not to put it up on your site the Guardian today covers another action by Crane- criticizing the Ghiz government on its slowness with the Thompson report, a paper commissioned by the Ghiz government itself and in the government's hands also for about 4 months now. The CBC covered this action by Crane four days ago on Sunday the 28th. This means the Opposition must have put out this press release last Friday maybe even Thursday a full week ago. The Thompson report is hugely important and the PEI public deserves to see in a timely manner what all politicians- Government and Opposition- are saying about it. You have run scads of stories in the last four or five days, ignoring the Crane action on this issue until today.
As of yesterday at noon Stephen Pate is running a large and hard hitting press release from Crane on the disturbing slowness of the Ghiz government on an immigrant settlement strategy as well as pointing out the many abusive and incompetent acts of the Ghiz boys in manipulating PNP immigrants for cash grab purposes. I assume that Crane put out this press release on Tuesday or maybe Wednesday morning at the latest and yet it is no where to be seen in the Guardian or on CBC for that matter.
Guardian, are you giving the government a chance to get its act together on immigrant settlement just like you are allowing with the MacPhail transplant story today?
PNP is the hottest issue on PEI but you delay and re-spin relevant stories - this one about what is coming up in the Legislature on PNP- according to your own preferences rather than demonstrating a clear ethical understanding on the public 's right to know.
Whether you are intending or not you are biasing public opinion against Crane. Makes it easy to write sneaky, snide editorials undermining Crane's leadership like you did on March 18th. In the print edition that is, the snotty editorial never making it to your website. Of all of the editorials, why did you chose to omit this one from your website?
C'mon guys. It is 2010 and we all have e-mail, internet, etc. Do not think that we can be manipulated as if it were the 1960s?
Where you cast light you will be congratulated. Where you throw shadows you will be criticized.
That goes for everything- PNP, Thompson report, Melissa MacPhail.
You will not be allowed to decide the PC leadership from Prince Street guys. Let's see some honesty, guys. Just because we have a tendency to allow to much bs from first term governments, this does not mean the Guardian has the right to reinforce this aggravatingly persistent trend either.
Please report the truth as it happens. Instances of fudging facts, actions and dates are dishonest acts by journalists.
If this is not your intention then please be more vigilant and professional. For God's sake! -
- This is a Critical Need
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:00:15
(P.E.I. developing program to compensate Islanders who must leave for transplants)
Why is this program still in the development stage? The first report on this story in the Guardian was Dec. 2, 2009. One day short of Four Months Ago!
(Melissa says many people from the Maritimes are in Toronto awaiting a lung transplant. She believes she is currently the only Islander and the only one not receiving assistance from her province for living expenses.)
Why?
(He (Dr. Wedge) says some assistance can be accessed by low-income Islanders through Social Services.)
Social Services doesn't provide their current recipients with an income that covers even their basic living costs! I'm sure the cost of living in Toronto is much more expensive.
(Opposition Leader Olive Crane reported yesterday that the Oxygen that Melissa requires will no longer be covered by our Government!)
Does Dr. Richard Wedge have any information as to why Melissa MacPhail's oxygen will no longer be covered ?
(a program to more fairly compensate Islanders who must leave the Island to undergo transplant surgery has the attention of Health Minister Carolyn Bertram.)
Has the attention of the Minister? How long will it be before the Minister is able to put more than attention behind this critical issue? It's been 4 mos. since this issue has been brought to the Minister's Attention!
(Wedge says no specific program under the provinces Health Department currently covers the travel and living costs Islanders face)
I believe it's time our Health Dept. puts such a Program in place! If other Maritimes Provinces have this Program in place now what is taking so long for our Government to do the same? Islanders waiting for transplants don't have the luxury of waiting for our Government to decide if they are going to assist them with living expenses after they have been residing in Toronto for a couple of months or longer!
(Wedge says both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick just recently announced this new coverage)
Then I have to wonder what is taking PEI so long?
(Wedge says the province is in the process of just such a review)
How long do these reviews take?
MacPhail says the province told her months ago that they were trying to find some way to help her.
It's been four months since Melissa MacPhail requested assistance. Our Islanders needing transplants and assistance with living expenses due to having to go off Island for such medical procedures can't wait months for reviews! How are they suppose to meet their expenses in the interim? It may take time before an appropriate donor comes forward. Melissa must remain in Toronto to be elligible as a Donor!
Melissa MacPhail's situation is critical and needs our Government's attention now. -
- Helen
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:52:38
Re: Melissa MacPhail not compensated for out-of-province living expenses while waiting for a double lung-transplant.
Canada does not have a problem screaming abuses of human rights internationally. At the same time Canada has an abusive habit of ignoring human rights in Canada.
As Canadians we are usually at the mercy of vacuum statements like Equal Access to Health Care is a Constitutional Right of all Canadians. What a Crock.
We as Canadians are left begging for mercy and help from decision makers who for some reason have to justify their existence by having a study while human lives are being extinguished.
My question is, Would the Provincial Ministers of Prince Edward Island have to beg at the alter of their government to help them extend their lives by receiving organ transplants?
Why don't we as Canadians advise the United Nations that Canada does not provide life saving Health Care to it's citizens? And in order to have any hope of continuing our lives we have to beg for mercy at the alter of our provincial and canadian governments!
Helen Joe -
- Phil
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:38:17
I found it interesting that, back in October 2009, Joanne Ings of the PEI Lung Association had hand delivered a letter to then Health Minister Doug Currie regarding the issue of coverage for travel and living expenses for those waiting for out-of-province transplants. It was quite revealing that he had not responded and that at least 5 months have passed.
This lack of communication with the PEI electorate seems to be the modus operandi of the Ghiz government. It has been my personal experience and that of others I know. If you're on the inside, you'll get attention. If you are one of the sweaty masses, you'll be ignored.
It has only taken the Ghiz government 2 and a half years to reach the level of arrogance that it took the Binns government 2 terms to reach.
Shame.
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