Abandoned by Ontario

Marianne Cavrak-Johansen says Ontario has let her down.

A survivor of an aggressive form of colorectal cancer, a disease whose treatment required a radical surgical procedure only available in Calgary, the now 42-year-old says when she needed the province the most, the powers-that-be turned their head and walked away.

A employee at the Lakehead University school of nursing, Cavrak-Johansen turned to the Northern Travel Grant Program, designed to cover the travel costs of patients in need of medical treatment not available in the region.

But the program, which kicks in when a patient must travel 100 kilometres or more from their home for medical treatment, only applies to flights taken within Ontario, and in special circumstances, to Winnipeg.

Cavrak-Johansen and her husband Larry Johansen are now facing a $4,500 shortfall, after twice being denied by the program’s operators. A portion of the cost they endured has been offset by donations from the co-workers and friends.

“This is just all kinds of wrong,” said Cavrak-Johansen, who is cancer-free after undergoing the complicated procedure that not only cut out the cancer, but saw physicians temporarily fill her insides with chemotherapy to ensure it didn’t return.

“I felt abandoned by my province, by my country, and thought, OK, you’re not going to help me? This whole Northern Travel Grant process should be for instances like this. This is a life-saving procedure for me, in which I had no other option.”

Under its criteria, the NTG provides $100 per trip for accommodation, and if recommended by a physician, will cover the plane fare of a companion, if traveling alone is not possible.  Meals and other expenses, like car rentals, are not included.

The flights in this case cost $1,200, though Cavrak-Johansen is looking for special consideration, given the enormity of the procedure she underwent.

The situation has drawn the attention of MPP Michael Gravelle, who has written a letter to the Minister of Health seeking an explanation and reconsideration.

Acknowledging the criteria for the program are pretty clear, and that Cavrak-Johansen knew them when she booked her flights and hotel, still Gravelle said each case is different and was moved by the letter he got from his constituent.

“I just felt, that as MPP, I should make a case for flexibility in the travel grant program,” Gravelle said on Monday, being careful not to divulge neither the patient’s name nor the type of operation she underwent.

Gravelle said he and his northern colleagues have worked hard to make changes to the NOTG program, and many have been made.

“But I’ve always maintained that there needs to be the ability to look at individual circumstances to have some flexibility so that situations such as this one, for example, the help can be provided under that Northern Travel Grant provides,” Gravelle said.

“My constituents were turned down, based on the criteria. I’ve written a letter to the Minister of Health, one that I felt very strongly about. We’ve not yet had a final, final response. But I take my responsibilities very seriously as an MPP and want to be able to advocate on behalf of my constituents.”

Cavrak-Johansen admitted she knew the program rules and regulations when she booked her flights, but thought she’d be able to appeal the decision, given her circumstances.

“I was just naïve. I thought for sure, once they hear that I had no option and I didn’t have any time to focus on that (they’d change their decision),” she said.

She wants her case to lead to changes, so that no one else has to suffer through the financial drain she and her husband have endured.

A little common sense should prevail, she said. OHIP covered the cost of the surgery, so it just makes sense the province should also pay to get her to Calgary and back, as if they’d do were the surgery in Toronto.

The rules they’ve put in place are wrong, she said.

“For my own province or country to say I’m sorry, you stepped outside those boundaries, I had no option. I can’t believe that. Life is not black and white, and they’re treating this – the way they set up the Northern Ontario Travel Grant – like it is. And it’s not.”