A petition started by a Winnipeg man frustrated by the cost of parking at hospitals is resonating with people across the country, especially in Alberta.
Thousands of people have signed the petition started by Collin Kennedy, who was outraged that his mother had to spend $600 to visit him in a Winnipeg hospital while he fights leukemia.
“People who are not getting paid anything, who are going there all day long to help care for our loved ones by their compassion have to pay for that compassion, and this is something I just thought was absolutely reprehensible,” he said.
Since he started the petition in July, nearly 5,000 people have signed it, more than 1,200 of those from Alberta. In this province, parking at a hospital will cost you $2.25 for every half hour with a maximum daily rate of $14.25.
“The bottom line is this is a barrier to accessing health care, there are a lot of patients who are there on a daily or weekly basis,” said Angelica Martin, Open Arms Patient Advocacy Society. “This is also a huge barrier to access for their networks, for their families, and not having that support system there already at a very emotional time for them, it’s unbelievable.”
It’s also lucrative for Alberta Health Services. In 2014, AHS took in $75 million in parking revenues. $28 million was used to cover costs, $29 million was used to pay down debt, and $18 million was put in a reserve fund.
AHS says the charges are necessary to make sure health care funding is used for health care.
"All our parking facilities are actually required to be self-sustaining so the health care funding is not used to support parking facilities," said Steve Rees, Capital Management, Alberta Health Services.
Kennedy expects the petition to be brought to Parliament in December. The petition is available online here.
