Little progress for man awaiting wheelchair

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This article was published 19/07/2023 (823 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE wait continues for a Winnipeg wheelchair user who’s spent the past 3 1/2 years without basic mobility.

Tom Landy, 46, spoke out publicly two weeks ago about the daily consequences of waiting years for a new motorized wheelchair. Since then, he’s had meetings with, and calls from, managers at Community Therapy Services and Manitoba Possible.

He’s been offered the use of a 2017 model from the Manitoba Wheelchair Program. He has also met with a custom-seating specialist to work on a new backrest for his existing 15-year-old chair, which he can no longer sit in comfortably.

Landy is expecting his new wheelchair will be brought to his home for a fitting trial by mid-August.

But he’s still uncertain about when — or why it has taken so long.

“I feel like the system is broken and these organizations are aware of that, but there is nothing in place to address it,” Landy said Tuesday, via a voice-to-text message.

He said officials seem more open to bringing the new wheelchair to his residence, rather than expecting him to travel to try it out. That process was delayed earlier this summer, when a vendor took his existing wheelchair and didn’t return it for three weeks, at which point, the battery was completely drained and wouldn’t hold a charge.

As a result, Landy missed meetings related to his new wheelchair.

“After speaking out, I feel like not a whole lot other than that is any different, and that is very discouraging to me.”

Landy and his family started the process of getting a new power wheelchair in the summer of 2019. His application was sent off in February 2022, and approved a year later, following multiple layers of funding approvals.

The custom sip-and-puff wheelchair was ordered earlier this year, and Landy is still waiting.

“I would hope that from now on there would be better communication between all of the organizations involved in providing people with mobility equipment. Because the entire process is very disorganized compared to what it used to be when I went through the process with my first three wheelchairs,” Landy said.

He has a degenerative condition called spinal muscular atrophy. As the condition progresses, he will eventually need new wheelchairs.

“But the system is not going to be fixed if nobody does anything about it,” he added.

David Kron, executive director of the Cerebral Palsy Association of Manitoba, said he, too, was trying to navigate long waits for members waiting for wheelchairs.

“There’s so much bureaucracy… I’m phoning people trying to figure out where the hold up is,” Kron said Tuesday, adding waits are a symptom of a systemic problem he likened to stretching an elastic band until it snaps.

Manitoba Possible has been lobbying for a funding increase from the provincial government. The agency is responsible for providing publicly funded wheelchairs through Manitoba’s wheelchair program, which receives its budget based on provincial funds via the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s home care services program.

The wheelchair program funding hasn’t increased in more than a decade, Manitoba Possible has said.

A representative from Manitoba Possible was not available for comment Tuesday.

The agency has said it is responsible for procuring the wheelchairs. Other agencies and vendors are tasked with fitting the wheelchairs properly and supplying them directly to clients.

Landy has been working with occupational therapists from Community Therapy Services. A manager for the private, not-for-profit agency declined to comment on the specifics of Landy’s case.

Landy said he still hasn’t been able to pinpoint the reason for the long delay.

“When an occupational therapist or doctor (the only ones who can make the referrals, according to the Manitoba Possible website) initiate the application process for wheelchairs, as well as any specialized equipment to accompany it, it should go through faster. The funding providers should not be denying or questioning certain equipment since (they) are supposed to be experts in their fields and know what a patient/client requires.”

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com