Not enough disabled according to Quebec

Photo Martin Alarie
Valérie Larouche is incomprehensible that Quebec refuses him a financial boost to help take care of her 13 year-old daughter, Camille, who is severely handicapped and must be the subject of constant surveillance.

Vincent Larin

Wednesday, 21 February, 2018 23:08

UPDATE
Wednesday, 21 February, 2018 23:08

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Gasping for breath, the mother of a girl severely disabled, followed by a dozen of specialists is ridiculous that they are denied the financial assistance that would enable him to have a bit of a break.

“Camille, she can’t even eat by herself. It is not true that it is autonomous, ” sighed Valerie Larouche, the air discouraged.

Retirement Quebec has recently refused for the second time to this mother the access to the supplement for a disabled child requiring exceptional care (SEHNSE). Put in place in 2016, this program allows parents of children with severe disabilities to cash out every month, 962 $ for the help to take care of their offspring.

However, Camille does not meet the criteria of the program, according to the organization, despite the fact that it must be subject to surveillance at any time of the day or night.

Constant monitoring

It is that in addition to being blind in one eye, Camille must wear at all times a hearing aid, has mental retardation and significant growth, as well as many physical deformities. Despite its 13 years, it also behaves as if it had 4 and had serious difficulties to express themselves.

Retirement Québec justifies in part the rejection of his case by the fact that it can travel a “distance” without help. A test provided by one of the specialists of the child demonstrates, however, that she moves much more difficult than a child’s normal development. And anyway, “out of the question to leave her alone in the street,” says Ms. Larouche.

“Camille, if you let go, she goes outside without a coat in the winter. It can move, except that it only sees in two dimensions, so the sidewalks, she doesn’t know and she does not know the concept of danger, ” says his mother.

The head of the department of pediatrics at the CHU Sainte-Justine, Isabelle Knight, who follows the record of Camille’s for the past ten years, adds in a letter sent to Retirement Québec.

“The burden of care required appears to me to be in many respects comparable to the heaviness of care for my patients who are receiving complex medical care at home “, describes it.

Worried about the future

For Valérie Larouche, who spends his time running around the medical appointments, the SEHNSE represented a rare opportunity to be able to blow a little and avoid having to borrow even more.

She said that she was concerned for the future as Camille is about to enter secondary school where no child care service is made available to parents.

The last way to make her point will be to present before the administrative Tribunal of Québec. A situation that is far from the good news, since it has already spent hundreds of hours completing the record of Camille.

A spokesman for the Pension Quebec has responded to the Journal that he wouldnít comment on the specific issues.

“As each child’s situation is different, the applications are evaluated by our medical team to ensure that it is treated fairly “, however, specified the spokesman Frédéric Lizotte in an exchange of e-mails.

What is this program ?

• 4265 applications filed to date (some still waiting)
• 1753 requests have been accepted
• 2029 requests have been rejected
• Put in place in June 2016

To determine eligibility, the autonomy in the 7 habits of life is considered

• Nutrition
• Personal care
• Travel
• The communication
• Interpersonal relationships
• Responsibilities
• Education

Changes to assessment criteria requested

The training of agents, evaluators, and the criteria for the award of a supplement for a disabled child requiring exceptional care (SEHNSE) should be reviewed, considers the mp, pq’s Carole Poirier.

File Photo, Simon Clark

Carole Poirier, member

“We must review the criteria [of the scoreboard] to make [the program] accessible to the greatest number of parents who need support,” says the politician, who was accompanied by Valérie Larouche in its dealings with Pension Quebec.

The member for Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, in Montreal, alleges that the officials who evaluate the records to say ” yes “to one and not the other” when they are faced with two similar situations.

“When one compares the case [of Camille] in other cases, it is incomprehensible that this child-there has not the right to this program,” she said based on the letter that the head of the department of pediatrics at the CHU Sainte-Justine has sent to Retirement Québec.

Ms. Poirier added that he sent a letter to the minister responsible for the Rehabilitation, Lucie Charlebois, about Camille.

Complex cases

Less than two years have passed since the establishment of the SEHNSE, and already several problems are surfacing, note Maryline Picard, one of the founders of the grouping, Parents to the end that lobbied for its creation.

“One has the impression that the doctors inspect specific aspects of the records without having a global vision of the problem of the child,” she explains. The best would be almost as they come in the family to see how some situations are serious. “

“One of the first criteria is the displacement, and there are many children who are capable of moving, yes, but it’s everything else that makes their complex cases,” adds Ms. Picard.