Greetings to the readers around the world, I hope the
weather is better where you are because it’s snowing constantly in the land of Canada. Brrr! Today I’m going to talk about keys.
Tk
Upon moving in the new KMHC tenants are given one set of keys
for the mail box, front entrance and their rented unit and only the KMHC staff
can enter the unit in case of an emergency.
As some readers may know due to the aging process some Native
elders that live in this place have physical disabilities, mild mental health issues and chronic
illness. It’s during these times family is important to them. Tenants should be able to give a trusted individual (i.e. a son, daughter or friend) a spare key to periodically check on
their loved ones, but UNH’s disagree. To
point out how important this is three years ago a tenant died on the floor in
her unit and the family blamed UNH’s/KMHC staff they believe if they had a key
there’s a possibility the tenant would be alive today. Later when the family was clearing the
deceased tenant’s belonging they spoke of legal action against UNH’s.
Recently I had the pleasure of talking to Cathy she’s the
daughter of tenant Norma who passed away in Dec 2013 in her unit. The daughter
was furious with HSC Ingrid because she was not allowed to enter her mother’s
unit. The daughter feels if she had
access (a key) to her mother’s unit prior to her death there’s a chance she
could have survived. Listening to
Cathy’s story was interesting and insightful she’s a real firecracker, not
afraid to speak her mind about UNH’s and their policies. Aboriginal people take family matters
seriously even today there are some Native elder tenants in the building who rather
have a trusted family member access to their unit to check on them and to feel
that someone cares.
Just because its policy doesn’t mean it’s right. UNH’s must
change the policy by writing up a landlord-tenant agreement: stating for
medical reasons only one trusted family member have a spare access key to check
on their loved ones 24/7.
Personally if I need emergency medical attention while in my
unit the KMHC staff can open the door
but I rather have only the police or the paramedics enter my unit and if needed
the police can inform my next of kin. In
an emergency situation HSC Ingrid and the current HOW’s are banned from entering my
unit, the exception would be the assigned security tenant Brenda and my next
door neighbour because I know and trust them.
The KMHC office is open during office hours yet access to
tenants is sometimes limited. Often there’s a sign posted on the door “do not
disturb they’re in a meeting” or “out to lunch” and I agree on so many levels they
are “Out To Lunch”. :P
Please click the link to my other blog post. http://tinyurl.com/mczplkx
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