(File photo/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Health care

‘I thought this is wrong’: free parking pass offered to Prince Albert Cancer patients suddenly halted

Apr 19, 2024 | 5:00 PM

Dennis Ogrodnick says he was shocked when informed a free parking pass provided to cancer patients seeking treatment at Victoria Hospital had suddenly been cut off.

For the past 10 months, the long-time city councillor has been undergoing treatments for his own form of cancer. Due to staff shortages at the city’s hospital, Ogrodnick – like others in his situation – was forced to travel to Saskatoon.

However that changed last fall, when Ogrodnick was informed there was room available for him at the Victoria Hospital’s chemotherapy unit and like others, received a parking pass. While appreciative, Ogrodnick confessed he only used it once.

“I’ve always paid and the reason I did that was I had the means to be able to do that, some people don’t,” he said.

On Thursday, Ogrodnick was informed the parking passes would no longer be available

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“I thought this is wrong like you are under a lot of stress and that extra pay it adds up and it could become a financial burden and a stressful situation for some patients,” he said, adding there’s a lot of people who don’t have the financial means.

According to the SHA, cancer patients were previously given passes but that was recently changed. More details are expected next week.

nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @nigelmaxwell