Victim of load shedding, he siphons off his savings


Francis Lacroix has worked in construction all his life. But here, it is no longer possible. Too much knee pain. His physio told him that the next step was surgery.

Now unable to work, the 54-year-old has been patient since last February. The problem is that Mr. Lacroix is ​​not in mortal danger. So he waits. He has been waiting for 12 long months for this procedure which will set him free.

A glimmer… and then no

For four months, he has been told that he is at the top of the list. “Hopefully, I’m my surgeon’s oldest patient. In the sense that I’ve been on his list the longest. We tell him that, but he hasn’t received a call yet.

No, Francis Lacroix is ​​not in mortal danger, but he is suffering a lot. Especially since he had to, in view of the possible operation constantly postponed indefinitely, stop the injections that relieved his pain. He moves less and less, even struggling to climb the stairs.

The longer he waits, the more his health deteriorates. His financial health too. Although he shows solidarity with the people who work in the health care system and wants to be understanding about the delays, he has difficulty understanding the lack of financial support during this period of load shedding.

“I am spending my life savings”

Francis worked all his life. He paid his taxes. He was, he said, a good citizen. And there, he wonders where is the elevator return? He wonders how come it is up to him to assume the financial costs generated by a wait beyond his control. And even if he is happy to have some savings, he would have preferred to spend his money on something else.

“For someone with a little less means, it’s fine. But how do you budget for 3, 4 or 8 months before the operation when you can’t work and you don’t know when you’ll be able to start again? The father of the family considers himself lucky that his children have left the nest. He doesn’t know if he could have kept the family home otherwise.

When he hears people demanding an end to sanitary measures or sees those who besieged Ottawa, Francis is very skeptical. According to him, it is imperative that the government understand the real consequences of the relaxation of the measures on the level of load shedding.

He is right. The end of health measures will rhyme with an increase in hospitalizations. “We treat the unvaccinated and it’s OK even if it costs a lot of money. But we must not be forgotten, the rest of us. »

The government must take care of people who, like Francis Lacroix, are immersed in waiting and feel abandoned by politicians. But Francis has no horn to sound. He only has this column in the newspaper to make himself heard.




Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com

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