Well it seems we have been faced with yet another example of how our home health care system is completely upside down and backwards in providing a service for the population that most needs it.  What profession can refuse to provide a service to a person that relies on that service to survive and live a high quality of life?  That would be one the amazing service providers that our provincial government has granted the contract to.  There are 3 main service providers that have basically been handed a contract to care for our aging and disabled loved ones by our government.  In the past, it was a bidding process so at least there was some accountability by these agencies to provide a high quality of care to their clients but now it is on a “renewal” process.  There is no repercussions if those agencies don’t provide the service they have been hired for.  So ridiculous when there is so many private agencies going above and beyond to provide high quality care for their clients yet they will never be given the opportunity to grow their company due to this government policy.  So instead family members are left to pick up the slack and eventually burn themselves out so that they not only physically become exhausted but mentally as well.  Just recently we once again were left without any support due to Shawn encountering a huge setback.  It happened over a week ago, Shawn accidently took a fall out of bed and injured his shoulder.  At first we thought it was just sore but he definitely posed unusual challenges with his transfer so there was some concern with his safety.  So instead of advising us that he would need some reassessment with the OT they decided to refuse service without any notice to us.  It makes perfect sense that they would have concerns and decide that the staff safety and Shawn’s safety were at risk but the disgusting thing is that they never let us know.  We had to find out when the staff arrived at the door in the morning and told us the message they received THE NIGHT BEFORE from their supervisor.  So this decision was made a whole night earlier.  Here’s the kicker…..they had the nerve to say they were concerned about Shawn’s safety but had no concern about refusing care with no options for us so that I would have to unsafely get him out of bed myself since staying in bed and being at risk for skin breakdown hardly seemed like an ideal option.  Luckily for us we were able to pull together enough family and friends to get us through until he could be assessed and a new form of transfer could be applied while his shoulder heeled.  Well guess what, the agency had their staff trained today by 2 Occupational Therapists sent by CCAC to train on the proper technique to hoyer lift transfer until Shawn’s strength returned to his shoulder and he could transfer with his pivot disk.  At 3:30pm today the supervisor from the agency left a message nonetheless for the CCAC case manager that their staff once again was no longer allowed to transfer Shawn until they could hear from his doctor.  So you guessed it, there would have been no notice to us for bedtime care if the CCAC did not get that message in time and we would have been stuck again.  There joke of an agency would rather see him transferred to bed by unqualified, non-trained family and friends then utilize their own staff that they sent for training at our home this morning.  However, if I again have to find the silver lining, I spoke at length with CCAC and he stated that maybe it is time to review how these agencies perform and how they must be made accountable to clients and their families.  It is all about policy and covering their own ass that they have lost sight of who they are servicing and not being client-focused at all.