Toronto woman spends nearly $2K on parking to visit mom in health-care facilities

A Toronto woman said the cost of parking to visit her mother in hospital, and later in long term care, for 15 months was a financial burden she feels she shouldn’t have had to pay.

"It's just horrendous the amount of money I’ve spent in parking since this began," said Michela. CTV News agreed to identify her by first name only.

Michela said her mother had to be hospitalized about 15 months ago and was later moved into West Park Healthcare Centre, a long-term care facility located on Emmett Avenue, west of Jane Street.

At times, Michela said she would visit her mother nearly every day, which cost her nearly $2,000 in parking fees.

"It was $1,832 over 15 months. That is a lot of money that could have gone to so many other things," said Michela. 

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A spokesperson for Ontario's health ministry told CTV News Toronto that it does not play a direct role in how a hospital is managed or governed, noting that public hospitals act as independent corporations run by a board of directors.

"Hospital administrators are responsible for the day-to-day management of their hospitals, including the delivery of services and implementation of programs, protocols, and procedures adopted by the hospital board, within the parameters of provincial legislation," the statement reads.

"Hospitals have resources to raise funds for their programs, medical equipment, expansion and renovation, or to use to enhance the quality of health care in their greater communities. These include activities like fundraising through their foundations, revenues from parking, or the allocation of space to non-hospital services, like food vendors or private clinics."

A West Park Healthcare Centre spokesperson told CTV News Toronto it offers a variety of parking options with all funds generated reinvested into the organization to assist with ongoing enhancements to patient care.

"Like all health care facilities, we ensure adherence to Ministry of Health requirements, ensuring affordable parking options for patients and caregivers," the centre said.

"In addition to daily and monthly rates, we offer the option to purchase five, 10 and 30-day non-consecutive parking passes, known as an H-Pass. The H-Pass provides a flexible and convenient pay-per-use options at a 50 per cent discount of standard daily rates. It also includes a 24 hour in-and-out privilege per use, and can be conveniently transferred and shared between patients and caregivers."

So, a 30-day H-pass for a caregiver visiting West Park three times a week would cost them $6.50 per visit, or $1,014 yearly, the centre said.

Some health-care workers have also expressed concerns about parking. Two nurses, who CTV News agreed not to identify, said they find it unfair they have to pay to park and are concerned about the parking rates, which jumped up in price by another 13 per cent this year.

"It seems rather wrong that I have to pay to come to work, and the only option for most of us to get to work us to drive. We shouldn't have to pay out of our own pocket to come to work," Sarah told CTV News.

The other nurse, identified as Helen, said she wants people to sign a petition that is calling for all health-care workers to have free parking in Ontario. The petition, which launched in April, has more than 9,895 signatures.

As for Michela, she believes that caregivers who have to visit their loved ones should have cheaper parking options.

"I would like the hospital to be sympathetic to us visiting in long term care and give us a break," said Michela.

Some hospitals in other provinces do allow staff to park for free and the nurses feel they should be able to as well. Health-care workers and caregivers want to start a dialogue about hospital parking with nurses saying even reduced rates would help.

They say at a time of rising prices, cheaper parking is a benefit health-care workers deserve as it can reduce the financial burden on health-care workers and help attract or retain talent in their industry.