Only three people showed up to protest, but organizer Judy Galley said she wanted to send Premier Christy Clark a message anyway.
Galley expected to see more people gather in front of Clark乌鸦传媒檚 West Kelowna MLA office Monday after enlisting the support of both the B.C. Nurses乌鸦传媒� Union and the Hospital Employees Union. The gathering was aimed at highlighting what Galley sees as the government乌鸦传媒檚 failure to uphold B.C.乌鸦传媒檚 Patients乌鸦传媒� Bill of Rights when it comes to seniors care.
With the B.C. Legislature set to reconvene this week, Galley said she wants the issue to be on the mind of the premier.
乌鸦传媒淭here is a lack of enforcement and the (provincial) Seniors乌鸦传媒� Advocate has reported nine out of 10 (seniors乌鸦传媒� care) facilities do not meet minimum staffing guidelines,乌鸦传媒� she said.
Describing herself as an 乌鸦传媒渋ndependent seniors乌鸦传媒� advocate,乌鸦传媒� the Salmon Arm woman said the need to bring the conditions that many seniors in B.C. live under to the public is important. And to improve them.
She said until she had to deal with her aging parents living in such conditions, she was unaware of what was going on in seniors乌鸦传媒� care facilities. (She said she does not currently have parents in care.)
Galley said she chose to protest on the Family Day holiday, outside the closed MLA office of the premier, because it was fitting to do so on a day when British Columbians are thinking about, and spending time with, family.
But she said she was disappointed that no one turned out to join her, her son and a friend in the protest. Letters had gone out from both unions encouraging their members to show up.
In addition to the message Galley said she wanted to sent to Clark, she said she also had a message for seniors in this province.
乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 a message of hope,乌鸦传媒� said Galley. 乌鸦传媒淭here are people willing to fight for a better quality of care for you.乌鸦传媒�
The protest was originally slated to be kicked off by a performance by the Raging Grannies, a group of socially concerned senior woman who lend their voices乌鸦传媒攍iterally乌鸦传媒� to a number of social causes.
But Galley said three of the four 乌鸦传媒済rannies乌鸦传媒� who were to attend came down with the flu.
