Family brings frustrations over health slowdowns to legislature

Nearly one-year-old Helen briefly pulled at her mother’s mask while Laura Weins and Graham Dickson spoke to media, explaining why they’re so angry with the provincial government.

The couple knew early on that Helen was going to have some health challenges and from Day 1 they were seeing specialists. Doctors seem to think Helen has cerebral palsy but the process for diagnosis involves a lot of testing and ruling out other things.

Dickson said, being in the middle of a pandemic, they would have to make some sacrifices.

“Maybe wait a bit longer for an MRI, maybe a surgery might wait a bit, but the one thing that we did have that was incredibly beneficial was physiotherapy and occupational therapy,” explained Dickson.

He said Helen wasn’t hitting some of the milestones she should for her age, and the physiotherapy was making a real difference. But then, six weeks ago, they found out her therapists were being redeployed to help with the crush of need in health because of the fourth wave of COVID-19.

“That was a real shock for us, at that point an overwhelming feeling of helplessness and powerlessness, and I think I can safely say for both of us and our extended families, our biggest worry right now is how this might impact Helen for the rest of her life.”

Dickson said that every day they’re missing opportunities to get Helen to the place where she needs to be so that she can have proper vision, play sports, or even be able to walk.

“I worry every day how this delay’s going to impact her. It’s hard; it’s very hard,” said Dickson.

And through these weeks, Dickson said he’s getting more and more angry.

“I saw all the medical and health-care experts warning in the summer and in the spring that the fall would be bad if we removed restrictions,” Dickson said. “It was common knowledge. We knew that this was going to happen.”

But, Dickson said, the government decided to lift restrictions anyway.

“Now I’m angry because my daughter, her health and well-being is subsidizing that poor decision,” he said.

Dickson said he doesn’t see them taking his problems — and those of other families like his — very seriously. He has never felt so dismissed by any government before.

Weins said even if services were to open up next week, that wouldn’t necessarily mean Helen would start getting treatment again as they know the list will have grown and they don’t know where she is on that list.

“We can’t make up that time that she has lost or that other children have lost,” said Weins.

Weins and Dickson were brought to the Legislative Building on Wednesday by the Saskatchewan NDP. During proceedings the family and its situation were held up in the Assembly by the Opposition as the result of the government’s mishandling of the pandemic.

The couple met briefly with Health Minister Paul Merriman in the rotunda. Beforehand, Dickson said he wanted to have a frank conversation with the minister and try to get him to change his mind on imposing new restrictions – like gathering limits.

After the conversation with the family, Merriman wouldn’t go into what they talked about, but did say he understands their concerns and anxieties and those of other families. He said he tries to explain to them the best he can about the decisions he has had to make, saying they’re not easy decisions.

“But unfortunately I saw a health-care system that was being overwhelmed, mostly by people that were unvaccinated, and we had to act,” said Merriman.

Merriman said when he talks to families like this, he can hear their emotion and frustration and it hits home for him as a parent. He said there have been many stories he has heard that have brought him to tears, including Helen’s, because she reminds him of what happened with his daughter.

“It’s a young girl, cute blonde hair just like my daughter, having some challenges medically. It’s very heartbreaking as a parent to be able to go through that,” said Merriman.

Merriman said he apologized to the family, not for creating the situation they’re in but for the fact they’re in this circumstance.

He says he hopes to get them out of it as soon as he can.