To chew or not to chew, this is the question. For many, the increased medical problems attributed to the loss of being able to chew food properly become impossible.
Everywhere we turn, we hear about the increased costs of medical treatment and the increasing number of people accessing medical treatment. As a result, helping people who have issues chewing their food will potentially decrease medical costs.
I have sent emails to the government only to be adamantly reassured the dental plan does cover denture replacement. My reply has been that the language and the intent of the dental plan does province does provide for the complete coverage of dental needs but only offers $2,000 every two years for dentures and does not cover replacement for dentures or partials.
Active Support Against Poverty and the Prince George Council of Seniors are unable to assist with this issue. ASAP is up against the regulations without any wiggle room and there have not been funds in the coffers for the seniors council for almost a year because no one has been making donations to the denture fund. As a consequence, there is a waiting list of seniors and the council cannot receive any new applications.
Why does it seem there is an abundance of media on everything else and nothing about the grassroots issues of what people deal with every day? I understand that we are deal with a nasty, tragic pandemic but seniors (and non-seniors) are dealing with life-threatening issues every day when they are unable to properly chew their food.
People on government assistance do not get their dentures covered and are told to save the money out of their assistance cheque or their pension income. In other words, a social worker making $3,000 to $4,000 a month has the audacity to tell clients to save. Reality needs to check in here and re-evaluate how we are caring for the old and the fragile.
Please consider donating to the denture fund at the Prince George Council of Seniors.
Florence J. Schultz
Prince George
