Renee Spakowski needs someone to help her clean her house.
The 78-year-old uses a walker and cane to get around because her left knee has no cartilage left and said she can’t bend down below her waist. She is also on a fixed income.
Spakowski gets a housekeeper for a couple of hours one day every three weeks to come to her single-bedroom co-op house to help do laundry, dust, vacuum, clean her kitchen and bathroom floor. For this, she pays $24 per visit.
However, in the past eight months, she has been bumped three times when the housekeeper either went on vacation or was sick.
“There is no plan B. There is no person waiting in the wings. When I am bumped, everybody else who is crippled and old is bumped,” said Spakowski.
And when she looked to other companies to fill in for the month, the same service was going to cost her $60.
The United Way’s Better at Home program helps older adults to continue living independently in their own homes by providing an array of home support services. It is a provincial program funded by the Ministry of Health and managed through the United Way.
The program is run through Community Services in Maple Ridge and is one of 65 Better at Home programs in the province. It services clients in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows by providing transportation for medical appointments and specialists across the Lower Mainland as well as for grocery shopping and housekeeping.
“All Better at Home programs are fee-for-service based on income. So it’s a sliding scale,” said Joanne Leginus, director of administration and services with Community Services.
The organization employs two housekeepers for Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, and doesn’t have the means to hire more.
“If someone is away, we don’t have someone backup that we can call.”
And the organization currently has a waiting list of clients.
Spakowski has started a petition to try to get the provincial government to fund an additional housekeeper for the local service. So far, she has 140 signatures.
“There needs to be a backup plan so vulnerable seniors are not left for five or six weeks without services,” read a letter she sent to Maple Ridge-Mission MLA Bob D’Eith.
“This subsidized home care is vital for our independent living and we count on its routine dependability and excellent service.”
mailto:cflanagan@mapleridgenews.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter