Gerry Ennis suffers from ALS. He can’t live independently because he’s lost the use of his arms and can only walk with assistance. As a result, he lives at Wascana Rehab. Two weeks ago, his daughter Nicole Dobson received a shocking letter.
“My rent’s going up 130 per cent,” Ennis said. “I was paying $1,089, and the letter I have now I pay 2,600 and 30 some dollars.”
A letter from the Ministry of Health, dated May 31, 2017, said Ennis monthly rent is now $2,689. That is the maximum amount that can be charged following changes to long-term care fees made in the March provincial budget.
Since he moved into Wascana Rehab last September, Ennis’ previous rent had been the lowest possible amount.
The letter also indicates Ennis should have also been paying the previous maximum of $2,065.
Dobson acts as her father’s power of attorney. She received a call from the ministry two weeks ago asking for Ennis’ financial information to confirm what he should be paying for rent.
“I said I’ve submitted them two or three times, and she said it’s not uncommon for that information to be lost when people are getting transferred,” Dobson explained.
Ennis moved to a different ward at Wascana Rehab last October.
Health Minister Jim Reiter was at Wascana Rehab on Thursday to announce members of the board for the Provincial Health Authority. A question about Ennis’ situation caught the Retier by surprise.
“There must be some other factors at play, I’d be happy to have our staff look at that to make sure there’s no mistakes,” Reiter said.
Reiter did speak with Ennis and Dobson before leaving the rehab.
“Something doesn’t seem right, you shouldn’t be going from minimum to maximum,” he told Ennis.
A member of Reiter’s staff collected contact information from Dobson to set up a meeting with ministry officials in an effort to sort out her dad’s situation.
Until then, all Ennis can do is try and wrap his head around the sudden change.
“I just don’t get it. It seems like we’re money machines, that we’re not humans. All we can do is up the price and deal with the same care,” he said.
Rent Issue Corrected
On Thursday morning a provincial government official revealed that a clerical error occurred. Based on his financial information, Ennis’ correct rent is now $1,791.
The official added that Ennis had been charged the minimum amount without his financial information being provided, which is the standard practice.
The Ministry of Health received his financial information on June 9.
The ministry is still working with Wascana Rehab to track down exactly what went wrong with Ennis’ rent and correct the issue. Ministry officials notified Dobson on the error and correction late Wednesday afternoon.
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