A 54-year-old severely disabled woman who cannot find home help in Quebec fears being forced to live in a CHSLD since Ottawa also prevented her from hiring an immigrant.
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“I’m very scared. Fear of what will happen to me, of being forced to say goodbye to my house and my mother”, drops Nathalie Heppell, quadriplegic for 20 years, following a stroke in Greece, during a humanitarian trip.
The Montrealer, however, receives money from the Service Employment Check Program in order to obtain home support, for the equivalent of 44 hours a week at $19 per hour. Over the years, she has seen more than forty beneficiary attendants.
Finding the pearl is often a miracle, she says. People are not trained, do not want to come in the evenings or weekends, and never stay long.
“We receive the money, but it’s ‘you organize yourself with it’ […] Recruitment is up to us, we publish ads, we do interviews, ”adds his mother, Aline Bélanger, 77 years old.
Compete with the network
With the pandemic and the labor shortage, hiring has become downright impossible. The two women must compete with the health network, which offers better wages and benefits.
Nathalie Heppell needs help getting up, washing, eating and going to bed. But at home, she has access to exercises with a physiotherapist and uses voice recognition software to browse the internet.
Since her accident, she has even completed a master’s degree in international law.
Without home help, she fears ending up in a CHSLD, losing all quality of life.
“We are not asking for charity, we are asking to be able to pay someone”, protests Mme Bélanger, desperate.
Four years ago, they found an attendant in the Philippines through Ottawa’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program. But it will leave Quebec in November. They found another candidate because, ideally, two people would share the task. After two years of proceedings, Ottawa rejected it. It is feared that she will not return to her country after two years.
However, the program is renewable and gives access to permanent residence. We also criticize her six-month training, which is nevertheless the same as the employee accepted in the past.
reconsider their decision
Mme Heppell and his mother are urging Ottawa to reconsider its decision. They don’t have two years to start over with another candidate. Their requests, especially to their local MP, went unanswered. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Minister Sean Fraser and MP Emmanuel Dubourg all declined to comment on Ms.me Heppell.
Calls every day for help
People with disabilities put themselves at risk of abuse, because of the severe labor shortage which forces them to be less selective in finding support at home.
The current situation is critical, argues Anabelle Grenon Fortin, community organizer at Moelle épinière et motricité Québec.
“I have never seen this, my colleagues have never seen this, every day we receive calls [pour trouver de l’aide à la maison]. There are no more home support staff, ”she worries.
“People are put in a situation where they take anyone or almost anyone,” she continues, adding that there is a risk of injury with untrained staff or opening their doors to ill-intentioned people.
“There is no institutionalized research platform, no method of monitoring staff qualifications. It is very problematic to put vulnerable people in this situation. It exposes them to abuse, ”says Mme Grenon-Fortin.
Nathalie Heppell, who is quadriplegic and looking for home help, knows something about it. She has already received a call from the police, who were looking for an attendant she had just hired, in particular.
Ms. Grenon Fortin also salutes the “exceptional” steps of Mr.me Heppell going so far as to look internationally for help.
Sticks in the wheels
“How to put the odds on your side, she says, on the steps and the resourcefulness of Mrs.me Heppell? Let’s stop putting obstacles in their way. »
To be eligible to apply, it must be proven that no one in the province is capable of filling the position sought. And for proof, Mr.me Heppell no longer counts the advertisements published online and remained unanswered.
“We understand the shortage of personnel, blows Anabelle Grenon Fortin. But what do we do? she asks. “Urgent action needs to be taken. »
She points out that M.me Heppell, in his fifties, “does not need geriatric care” in a CHSLD.