NIAGARA – A new hotline is giving unhappy Niagara home care patients a chance to tell their stories to Health Minister George Smitherman.
Launched this week by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, the hotline is intended to collect anecdotes to illustrate how the recent transfer of visiting nurse care from the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) is harming patients in the region.
“Our VON nurses were hearing from their former patients about the decline in service since being transferred to the new home care providers,” says OPSEU President Leah Casselman. “We wanted to find a way of collecting this information to illustrate to George Smitherman the depth and range of this problem. This community is being put at risk
by the poor decision of the CCAC to award contracts to two agencies that had no staff, office or experience in this region.”
The toll-free hotline invites home care patients – and those who have been denied home care – to tell their story. OPSEU is encouraging those reporting incidents to voluntarily leave their name and telephone number behind so that the complaints can be followed up and information clarified.
The hotline can be accessed by calling toll-free 1-877-561-8692.
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For more information, please contact:
Debbie Charbonneau - 905-684-2693
Virgery Vanier - 905-227-3770
Rick Janson – 416-443-8888 ext 207
