What can you do when you find yourself alone in your
fourth floor room, wheelchair-bound, caught short and you can’t get into your
bathroom?
According to Jenny and Jen, the ladies do what they
can to assist Bob when he soils himself etc, that is the plight of Bob who has
been living like this for four long and grueling years in a building managed by
Niagara Regional Housing. The upside of the fact that he fell, which happens
frequently, in June 2013, and fact that he laid on the floor for five hours
screaming for assistance is that he finally received a ‘life Line button’ to
send an alert for help.
Each time Bob is rescued by the Fire Department they
take him to the hospital to make sure he is unharmed.
Bob
is diabetic and because of diabetes Bob has lost both of his legs and parts of
his fingers, some of which show infection. The back of his hands are damaged
from hitting narrow door frames.
Bob
has no exit to the balcony in the event of an emergency such as fire.
In this case even our fire
department has turned its back on this amputee senior living in
danger.
Jenny says that Bob was told that ‘in case of an emergency he should crawl out
onto the balcony’.
Surely
one could and should ask questions. How could any individual be left in such an
appalling situation?
Where is oversight from the Niagara
Regional Government?
There
are five Niagara Regional Councillors sitting on the NRH board (Cost
$9,000). Are they not aware of Bob’s plight?
Was it not reported?
How
many other handicapped seniors are suffering the same fate as Bob? Since
October 25, 2013 our Niagara Regional Councillors have all been informed of Mr.
Hansplant’s four year ordeal it will be interesting to see just what they will
do about their NHS
treatment of amputee seniors.
It
should occur to everyone that Bob is not in a handicap facility.
It
should be apparent to everyone that the conditions in which Bob is living would
not meet the standards of the Lincoln
County Humane Society were treatment of this type can bring a $60,000 fine
and two years in prison.
This story started out by asking a question.
The story of Bob’s four year ordeal was not one of temporary
inconvenience while more suitable arrangements could be made.
Frustration grew out of stonewalling, out of claims that it would cost $5K to
widen a door, out of claims that there was no money to alleviate Bob’s dire
situation.
No money! That seems to fly in the face of a comment
spoken at the November 28, 2013 budget meeting Quote: “$200,000 is a drop in
the bucket”!
Jenny and Jen tell of their being barred from meetings
where Bob was threatened with eviction predicated on bogus claims of mental
incapacity.
So, what did they do. In desperation Bob and his
assisting angels called on Regional Councilor Petrowski for help. They invited
Petrowski to attend one of the NHS meetings to witness just what was going
on. Petrowski confirmed that what he had been told was accurate. He could
not sit by silently listening to excuses for what appeared to be a chronic dereliction of duty. He’s not
that sort of person! He reminded the region representatives that financial
resources existed to fix this victim’s basic crisis, which riled the ‘care
givers/providers’ to the point of filing false harassment charges against
Petrowski.
However, false harassment charges do not mitigate the
fact that our Niagara Regional Housing is not only failing an amputee senior in
their care but they are also failing their own ‘Vision’
statement: “Our vision is that the Niagara community will provide
affordable, ACCESSIBLE and QUALITY housing for ALL residents”.
It would appear that it is a matter of
some trying to do something juxtaposed to some, who should be doing something, actually doing nothing.
It’s a long, long way to the
competitively priced Sherbrooke Community
Center
Instead of looking after an amputee
senior they prefer to hide behind weasel words like process and protocol to
castigate anyone who would dare challenge NRH conduct and performance.
They proffer a vague excuse that after
causing Mr. Hansplant to languish in his present situation of four years and
denying alterations to his facilities they suddenly come forward with
alternatives.
It is obvious that it was Regional Councillor
Petrowski’s attention to this sordid matter that caused the NRH hierarchy’s sudden
epiphany.
Were those advancing the harassment
charges concerned with the geneses of the situation or were they preoccupied
with hiding their failures from any true advocate for the citizens of Niagara?
Then again, why investigate actual cause and effect
when they have another juicy harassment charge to hang on a non-conforming
Councillor?
In light of the continuing onslaught of assault against a dedicated councillor it is definitely time for a full investigation of
all involved.
Continue Reading...
Now our Chief fire prevention officer has the temerity to state the following...
Now our Chief fire prevention officer has the temerity to state the following...
“We want the places in this city where people live, work and
visit to be safe,” said Chris Leonard, chief fire prevention officer. “The
City’s fire inspectors work to ensure everyone in our community is safe,
whether they are working a part-time job, living in a seniors’ home or renting
a room at a students’ residence.”
For
more Information Click Here
What contractor gave a price for $5K when the job could be done for $500,? The Region should be checking out different contracors. This is definite ptoof why taxes are so high in the Region.
ReplyDelete