It takes a village: Kendall Worth with good news for woman going in for surgery

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Last month I wrote about this person I had met and how even a short hospitalization and surgery can throw a poor person’s live into a stressful chaos. Who’s going to drive you home if you have nobody? How are you going to get to the Food Bank if you need to stay in bed for weeks? How are you going to keep your apartment clean and tidy? And what about the social isolation?

Well, in this case at least I have some good news to report.

First of all, as you may remember, there were two surgeries involved, one relatively quick that would require one week of rest at her home, and a more complex surgery later this year that will require eight weeks of recovery at home.

With the first surgery now behind her, she feels that this one week already spent in social isolation has prepared her for the eight weeks yet to come.

You may also remember that she was worried about having strangers in her house for housekeeping while she was recovering. Before leaving the hospital after her first surgery she got to meet with the hospital social worker regarding her second surgery. After finding out more about what homecare is and how homecare operates, she is now more accepting of the homecare idea.        

She was relieved to find out that the home care workers coming in will not be just any Tom, Dick, or Harry. She found out that the homecare workers are licensed, and bonded by the agency they work for. She was also pleased to find out that if any wrongdoing or mistreatment happens, there is a number she can call to report them. Before the hospital social worker explained all this to her she did not know any of these things.   

We also mentioned in our first article that she didn’t have a phone, which is never a good thing, but especially so if you are recovering from surgery.  She now received a telephone allowance through Community Services, after her family doctor advocated to get her phone covered as a special need. However with the way things have been with Community Services, I would not be surprised if her special needs funding for her phone stops after her recovery from surgery.

Another good piece of news is that the same volunteer who is once again going to be driving her home from the hospital and bringing her supplies, has told people who attend the church about her situation.

These people have offered to prepare meals for her, to be delivered to her by the same volunteer. Also the reverend has offered to come by and check in from time to time during her eight-week recovery. She is open to all of that.

So it is all good news coming her way!

Kendall Worth is the chair of the Benefits Reform Action Group (BRAG)

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