Squamish’s Mike Johnson doesn’t know what he is going to do to financially survive the coming months.
“I am just beside myself,” Mike, 58, said on the phone from Vancouver General Hospital, where he had his right leg amputated Dec. 31 due to complications related to diabetes.
“I really don’t know what to do. I am two months behind on my [trailer pad] rent, I owe BC Hydro over $400. We have no heat in the house except for electric heaters and so of course our hydro keeps going up because of that. I haven’t been well enough to put in a woodstove…. In the meantime, my vehicle broke down and I haven’t been well enough to fix that. It is just one thing after another.”
Mike said he has been denied provincial social assistance three times.
Each time, he is turned down he is told he made too much money to qualify for assistance.
Mike previously owned a sheet metal company and made good money at that, he said, but he also hired others and had to pay for his own equipment, which ate away at his earnings.
About a year ago, his serious health woes began. In late 2014, he had the baby toe on his left leg amputated, a result of his diabetes.
Although he tried to keep doing odd jobs, as his health further deteriorated and he was in and out of hospital, ultimately he was unable to work at all.
Mike’s wife of 37 years, Laurie, doesn’t often visit him in hospital because the family doesn’t have a working car. Their daughter, Elizabeth, drives her mother down when she can but works full-time. Laurie, her voice breaking, said the stress has been immense.
“This whole thing is just messed up,” she said, her words trailing off as she began to sob. “Not having a car to go down and see him, having to borrow a car, borrow money for gas, and then have to borrow money to park down there.”
Their sons and daughter, and the kindness of strangers such as a grocery pharmacist who has given Mike some of his medicines for free, have helped the couple. They have also accessed the Squamish Food Bank when they have a ride to get there.
Laurie has health issues of her own; she had heart surgery two years ago. For most of her adult years, she stayed home to raise the couple’s children.
Her husband explained: “I kind of was the kind of guy that said, ‘No, you don’t have to work, you stay home and take care of the kids.”
Having lost his leg, Mike will be in physiotherapy for at least a few months and then will have to figure out what he can do for a career, as physical labour will no longer be an option.
Elizabeth, the couple’s daughter, said the situation with her father has impacted the entire family.
“It is really stressful,” she said. “Living kind of day to day, trying to figure out what is going to happen next with dad and what is happening with mom.”
She said it doesn’t make sense that when someone is in a desperate situation, there isn’t help for him.
“This person who has actually paid into taxes… throughout his entire life, can’t utilize these benefits?” she questioned.
In response to a request for comment from the provincial ministry of social development and social innovation, which is responsible for social assistance programs, The Squamish Chief was told it could not comment on Mike’s individual case for privacy reasons. The ministry representative did send along a general comment.
“The income and assets of all adult family members are taken into account when determining eligibility for assistance,” read a portion of the emailed statement from the ministry.
“This helps ensure assistance is provided only to those most in need. This means individuals must first access other forms of available income, such as WorksafeBC benefits, the Canada Pension Plan and Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefit, or Employment Insurance.”
Desperate to help, Elizabeth has set up a Helping Mike Survive page on the crowdsourcing site, GoFundMe.
