THUNDER BAY — Howard Meshake has been bouncing around Ontario’s medical system attempting to get adequate homecare for his partner Jeannie Carpenter.
In 2018, Carpenter suffered a debilitating stroke, leaving her unable to walk and requiring 24-hour a day healthcare.
“We are here today to put the provincial and federal government on notice. Our people will not stand for this any longer. It's time that they take action and be accountable for our right to health care,” said Meshake.
“I'm hoping is that by doing this, at least it'll bring awareness to them that our people are fed up of this system. It's time that they take action. To my understanding, the government is actually making some rulings at the house right now on services because they believe that the health care services in the north are fine the way they are. But they don't realize, no, they're not. It's time that the Ford government takes a look at what health care systems and the lack of healthcare that our communities are faced with.”
Meshake, who is the primary home caregiver, has had to fight for the limited amount of care. Meshake works full-time to ensure all aspects of their homecare need are met.
He said that in 2020, at the beginning of COVID, he went six weeks without seeing Carpenter, who was hospitalized.
“The hospital became a prison for her,” said Meshake.
He explained that during that time he had to make a difficult choice, either leave Carpenter in long-term care or quit his job.
“I have vowed that I will not put her back into the system which leaves me with only one option. I quit my job and look after her at home because I can't get the access to services that I need,” Meshake said. “The overall response I get from everyone is that we don't have any workers. It is a really big question, why are there no workers?”
Carpenter has not received homecare services since October 2022 and has had one hour of nursing care since June 2023.
With no other options left, Carpenter and Meshake decided to find answers and raise awareness under the name Jeannie’s Way to generate a discussion about the inadequate state of Ontario’s healthcare system.
On Oct. 10, Carpenter and Meshake began their journey from the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority office to the Community Care Access Centre in Dryden. However, once they arrived, they were met with a closed sign on the door. The Community Care Access Centre is open for limited hours because of staffing shortages in the area.
But this did not stop Carpenter and Meshake from getting their message out. On Oct. 27, Carpenter and Meshake walked from the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority's Thunder Bay Office to Northwest Home Community Care office on Alloy Drive.
Their objective is to ensure that a level of government knows the shortage of health care professionals, especially in rural and remote areas.
“The biggest thing I'm seeing is the poor recognition of people's right to health care but that also starts at the front-line level and that's why I mentioned the front-line staff being unrecognized. One of the challenges that I see is that our government is not putting anything back into that to retain front-line staff to in order for people like her to have accessible health care,” said Meshake.
For Meshake, a major part of the challenges in the healthcare system are due to the politicians who are so far removed from the issues of living in rural and remote areas of Ontario.
“We're already limited to the services that we get up in our northern communities. Then when we're forced to move away from our community, we get met with even less,” Meshake said.
