It no longer costs B.C. parents one penny to travel or stay in Vancouver when sick children have to go to BC Children's Hospital.
The BC Government is taking care of 100 per cent of transportation costs and provides a subsidy of $150 per night lodging for up to 30 days through a recent initiative called BC Family Residence Program.
Hope Air and the B.C.-Yukon Shriners Club each received government grants of $500,000 per year to provide ground and air transportation.
Although the program was launched in April and has been quite well used, Kevin Falcon, BC Health Services minister said Monday in Prince George, "This is one program we want to see well overused and awareness is the key."
During the awareness event, Prince George mother, Lisa Saunders told the story of her two-year-old son Brody who was born with a severe bilateral left cleft palate that required two surgeries in Vancouver to correct.
She said the Family Residence Program paid every cent of the transportation and accommodation costs during stays for Brody's surgery and check ups.
"We stayed at Easter Seal House and flew Air Hope," said Lisa who is big on praise of the program.
Falcon said the program, a partnership with B.C. Variety Children's Charity, which administrates it for the government, said the initiative was led by local MLAs Shirley Bond, Prince George Valemount, Pat Bell, Prince George Mackenzie and John Rustad, Nechako Lakes.
"Now people in the North are on an equal footing with Lower Mainland people," Falcon said.
Val O'Connor, a director on Variety, said "it was a natural fit for Variety to administer the program.
Her experiences with the local Child Development Centre has shown when families have to travel south with sick children, "they are in turmoil with finances, transport and accommodation."
"This program will lift many of those problems off parents and it certainly will make a difference in the lives of children."
For more information on the program and the eligibility criteria visit the web site at www.bcfamilyresidence.gov.bc.ca/
Falcon said $13 million has been earmarked in the 2010 budget for the program, including $7.4 million budgeted for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
Since April, 646 B.C. children, including 19 from the Prince George area, have received support through the program.
BC Children's Hospital serves 5,200 children outside the Vancouver area each year.
