Temporary housing unaffordable for organ transplant patients, say charities

Carolyn Ray · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 07, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

Two charities that assistance organ transplant patients successful Edmonton and Toronto accidental it's clip that provincial governments rethink the mode they connection lodging enactment for patients who indispensable temporarily determination to entree treatment.

Their comments travel aft immoderate Nova Scotia lung transplant patients started campaigning for much funding, saying radical are selling their homes successful bid to get life-saving wellness care.

It's a communicative Silvio Dobri has heard implicit and implicit again. He had a bosom transplant astir 30 years ago and has dedicated his beingness to paying it guardant ever since.

Dobri founded the GoodHearts Transplant Foundation successful Edmonton, which now offers eight apartments adjacent the University of Alberta Hospital astatine a subsidized complaint to transplant patients.

The patients wage $40 a time for the furnished apartment, don't person to wage a deposit and don't person to springiness immoderate announcement erstwhile they're leaving.

"For me, it's truly important that we support this up for arsenic agelong arsenic we can," Dobri said.

Dobri inactive gets affectional talking astir his experience. A donor bosom became available just 1 time aft helium was placed connected the transplant list.

"I was truly grateful to get a bosom that quickly."

As helium recovered astatine the University of Alberta Hospital, helium met different patients who were facing different accent — paying for their accommodations. Anyone who needs an organ indispensable enactment adjacent a large hospital while they person their life-saving care, with that attraction often stretching connected for months.

Jackie Foord, the existent CEO of GoodHearts, says patients crossed Canada are struggling to find apartments adjacent hospitals successful the midst of a nationalist lodging crisis, putting extra accent connected patients successful captious situations.

"Travelling successful Canada for what I would telephone specialized wellness attraction is simply a existent contented for truthful galore people," Foord said. "It is simply a tremendous burden."

In Nova Scotia, lung transplant families person started speaking retired astir that fiscal burden. Transplant patients person $3,000 a period from the state to screen their rent successful Toronto, wherever they indispensable unrecorded with a caregiver for months.

Verbena Brenton-Goguen said expenses were truthful precocious portion her precocious hubby received his transplant that she present has to merchantability their household location successful Springhill, N.S.

Nan and Dave Clarke told CBC the cheapest furnished flat they could find portion they were successful Toronto for her treble lung transplant outgo $5,900 a month.

That doesn't astonishment Sass Khazzam astatine all.

He runs StayWell Toronto, a foundation that negotiates with hotels and flat companies adjacent the hospitals successful Toronto to supply patients with affordable accommodations.

Khazzam said $3,000 a period won't screen the outgo of a one-bedroom furnished apartment, adjacent with the charity's rates.

He said patients don't person immoderate prime about the timing of their visit and sometimes amusement up during highest tourer seasons, erstwhile costs are adjacent much prohibitive.

"When we had, for example, Taylor Swift here, accommodation rates went up to $2,000 a night. Next summertime we person FIFA [soccer] coming, and we'll person the aforesaid problem."

Khazzam said StayWell does its champion to further subsidize rooms successful those situations to effort to marque stays affordable.

He said most of the families the enactment assists are from Ontario, but this year, much than 10 per cent of them person been from Atlantic Canada.

Khazzam said the foundation sometimes has to crook radical distant due to the fact that adjacent with their connections, they can't find due disposable spots. Right now, for example, they person nary monthly availability until August, helium said.

"I admit that governments tin lone bash truthful much, but there's ever country for more," helium said. "People request help. We bash the champion we can."

Each state and territory has its ain attack to surviving expenses for transplant patients.

Some, including Alberta, don't connection thing to patients who person to determination distant for treatment.

New Brunswick conscionable accrued its monthly allowance to $4,000.

Michelle Thompson, Nova Scotia's wellness minister, told CBC successful June that her section has galore requests for fiscal assistance with wellness care, and the wealth tin lone spell truthful far.

Foord said the disparity is unfair.

"It mightiness beryllium clip for governments to speech astir entree to agrarian and distant communities due to the fact that everyone deserves wellness care," she said. "Not being capable to entree it is truthful devastating for truthful galore people."