Dear Editor
I don't really know where to turn or what to do anymore because our family has reached a critical time in our lives with my brother Don, being a 45-year-old deaf quadriplegic and my parents are now in their 70s. They have been Don's caregivers for the past 15 years.
My mom has had several conversations with different levels of government trying to find a solution for Don for the past two years and to date they still don't have any answers for us other than if something happens to one of my parents he will be placed either in the hospital or in a nursing home as soon as a place comes available. This is not a solution! Don does not deserve to be put in a long-term care facility that is largely filled with people who are 80 and 90 years old.
Four years ago we started talking to Len Taylor who was the MLA for the Battlefords at that time. He tried to help us, but was not successful. Now we have been talking to Herb Cox who is at present our MLA and he has brought this matter to his colleagues in government on several occasions. To date we still have no funding for a group home in Saskatoon or North Battleford that would accommodate individuals who are physically challenged.
In the past year I have heard of several group homes for intellectually challenged people being built or homes being purchased in Unity, North Battleford and even a large facility in Moose Jaw. There has been no funding made available for another group home for physically challenged people in either North Battleford or Saskatoon. The homes that are available such as Sherbrooke, Parkridge or Cheshire are full and have long waiting lists. The best Saskatoon Health Region can do for us is put Don's application in for any nursing home in Saskatoon and if a bed becomes available he will have to move into a long-term facility.
My brother deserves to be in a place that feels like his home, not an institution with senior citizens. Don does not fit the criteria to go into a home for the intellectually challenged because he does not have a brain injury. We have explored all avenues and still don't have any solutions.
We keep in touch with people in different capacities of government, but we still have not been given funding for a group home to be built or purchased so that my brother can live in a home instead of an institution. He deserves quality of life just as much as anyone else and he certainly does not deserve to be stuck in a nursing home.
My family and I are tired of being giving the run around by the government and being told they are putting it on the agenda. That's great, but that still doesn't find us a home for Don in the event my parents suddenly can no longer take care of Don. When will our voices and concerns of the physically challenged people be heard, like the voices and needs of the intellectually challenged have already been addressed?
Brenda Herner
Unity
