People survived by this cancer celebrated their birthday by paying the parking fee of a stranger hospital
As it happensCancer celebrates his birthday by paying the parking fee of the surviving stranger hospital
Christina Locke decided to celebrate her 63rd birthday at a very familiar place in her local hospital.
London, Onts.
On Tuesday, he installed a parking voucher pile and a banner near an entrance near an entrance to the London Health Sciences Center, which states: “Happy birthday to me. Your parking is free.”
“Today, I hugged. I got a kiss on the cheek. I shared tears with people. I shared laughter. Joking. It just lightens the mood,” Locke said. As it happens Guest host Aarti Pol.
“They are moving very heavy because they are carrying a burden, okay? And when they saw my signal, they would walk to me and, right, a big smile on their face and they were very grateful.”
Locke’s long cancer trip
Lockes can identify that heaviness in strangers because she experiences it herself. In 2004, he was detected non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
“Walking in the cancer clinic, especially for the first time, you are nervous, you are worried, it’s unknown, and the carpet burst from under your feet,” he said. “You don’t know if you are going to survive next year too.”
Soon after her early diagnosis, she says, doctors removed 26 lymph nodes from one side of her neck. But he was only the beginning of his cancer journey.
In the next two decades, she will return to the cancer clinic for regular checkups to monitor her health by 2023, when a more aggressive form of lymphoma developed on the other side of her neck.
After that, she says, she had to undergo chemotherapy, and had more frequent visits to the London Hospital’s Verspeten Family Cancer Center.
But, today, he is cancer-free.
“When I was treated myself, I felt as if I needed to do something else,” he said.
“I wanted to do something that goes directly to the patient. And what is the better way than covering their parking for the day?”
Hidden cost of cancer
The parking fee has long been a financial stress on patients in Canada, where health care is free, but not related non-medical costs.
A Canadian Cancer Society Report Estimated cancer patients in December face an average of $ 33,000 in their lifetime, a number that is expected to grow with the cost of life.
These costs, report notes include, drugs, lost wages, travel, careful, lodging, food and, yes, parking fee.
“I have been going to the cancer clinic for more than two decades, and when you are there … you interact with other patients,” Locke said. “The common topic was how long we are waiting (and) we know that it means that our parking is going to cost more.”
At the London Health Sciences Center, the maximum daily parking fee is $ 12. But in Toronto city hospitals, those daily rates may be more than doubled.
A spokesperson of the London Health Sciences Center accepted the financial burden coming with a parking fee, especially for long -term patients, but said that the collected revenue leads to the operating costs of the hospital.
In fact, hospitals in Ontario have to re -invest under their parking fee. Provincial Regulations, implemented in 2016,
Rules also require rules that are charged more than $ 10 per day to offer patients, their family members and visitors near five-day, 10-day and 30-day, which is at a 50 per cent discount from daily maximum rate.
But when hospitals do not have a parking lot, the nearby private parking is not subject to the rules.
A new report by Canadian Cancer Society suggests that cancer patients are paying out-off-packets of thousands of dollars for expenses, including transportation, prescription drugs and medical devices. And those costs make it more difficult than fighting the disease.
An NDP covers the lack of revenue for patients, families and health care workers to eliminate hospital parking fee for hospitals in Ontario- Was voted in June.
Nova Scotia started covering the cost of hospital parking in May in May For patients, health care workers and visitors.
Cubec, since 2020, Public health institutions have offered free parking for the first two hours in public health institutions for patients and visitors, and the hospital parking fee is capted at $ 10 per day.
British Columbia In 2022, finished his two -year free hospital parkingSaying that many drivers misused the system for reasons related to non-health care. The province still covers the cost for patients receiving dialysis or cancer treatment in acute care programs, and for parents or carers of children living in the hospital overnight.
While Loke says that free hospital parking will be an ideal scenario, she says that those who want Help reduce the burden of patients, he can do so by following his leadership.
He raised $ 3,700 throughout the year, first by collecting empty beer and bottles of empty beer and liquor from friends and family, and later working with the hospital to create a money -raising page.
On Tuesday, she was able to cover parking for around 300 patients.
“A cute surprise,” Trish Eagleson said, one of those who got a free parking pass from Loke. “This is a wonderful initiative.”
While she is giving back to others, Loke says that this is also a birthday gift for herself.
He said, “They brought me as much happiness as I was bringing to him, because I know how they are feeling in the moment when they are walking in the clinic,” he said. “This is just a wonderful feeling that I was making someone happy.”
Locke, whose real birthday is in July, has planned to return to celebrate the 64th celebration in the next summer.
