Social work students' protest pushes for home care for Canadian woman with ALS, Asperger's

From The Sudbury Star in Canada:

Social work students from Laurentian University are demanding immediate action to resolve the case of a Sudbury woman suffering from ALS who says she is being denied home care.

About a dozen students staged a day-long protest downtown Jan. 23 to draw attention to the story of a woman they say has fallen through the cracks of a health-care system that is broken.

They admitted they don't have all the facts in the dispute between Minna Mettinen- Kekalainen (pictured) and the North East Community Care Access Centre, and protest leader Steve Murray said he recognized the agency couldn't speak about the case because of confidentiality laws.

"We are not here to make anyone or any agency seem like a bad guy," said Murray, speaking through a megaphone in front of Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci's constituency office just before noon.

"But we are here to ensure that this issue does not get swept under the rug."

Murray said the purpose of their demonstration was twofold -- to get Mettinen- Kekalainen the services she needs and isn't receiving, and to call for collaboration to find out what happened in this case and to ensure it never happens again.

"Our message to both the government and the agencies involved here is that this situation is completely unacceptable," said Murray.

He appealed to Bartolucci, who has said his constituency staff has done everything it can to help the ailing woman, to keep working on Mettinen- Kekalainen's behalf.

"Our message to you, Mr. Bartolucci, our representative, (is that) one of your constituents is in need and she needs you now more than ever."

Mettinen-Kekalainen is claiming she is being denied home care after she threatened to report nurses who were caring for her to the Ontario College of Nurses for not following her doctor's order.

The care access centre cannot comment on her case, but has said there is more to it than is being reported. Executive director Richard Joly said Friday his organization never withdraws services from clients without presenting them with other options.

Joly has also said the agency cannot expose its workers to threats of harassment or abuse when they visit clients' homes.

Murray said Canadians won't sit back "while essential services are withheld from someone who needs them."

The students decided to protest on Mettinen- Kekalainen's behalf after reading Sudbury Star stories outlining the woman's situation. Mettinen-Kekalainen, a former student in the same social work program, attended the rally at one point in her motorized wheelchair, and her presence bolstered marchers' morale.

Mettinen-Kekalainen also suffers from Asperger syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder that can affect interpersonal communications. Some of her friends have speculated the disorder can make her appear difficult to deal with.

Student Miranda Maunsell said she joined the protest because she thought it "simply deplorable" that someone could be denied care when they need it.

She, too, acknowledged there is more to the story than she knows.

"But people that are in jail and (have) committed murders ... still have the right to be treated. I don't think it matters what you've done. Everyone has the right to have their basic needs met." Neither Bartolucci nor access centre officials met with protesters, but student Robin Cheslock slipped up the elevator to visit Bartolucci in his constituency office.

Cheslock said the MPP reiterated his position that his staff has done "anything and everything they can to advocate on behalf of Minna. However, his office can't interfere on individual cases such as this. He has to let the process run its course."

Cheslock said Bartolucci said he supported students' right to protest and "encouraged us to continue on with what we're doing and voice our opinion and advocate for people in situations such as this, and to carry that drive and desire further, not just through graduation, but later on in our careers."