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Gimme The Keys.

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.
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


Tk

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