Some recent examples of this,
Example 1 - letter back from Peterborough Hospital following complaint made regarding xray machine landing on hubby's leg. "the safety feature on this machine is working within safety parameters", if it was safe why did it hit my husband with such force it threw him forward in his wheelchair hurting his leg in the process ?
Example 2 appointment letter for an appointment in 10 weeks time even though we have stressed the urgency of the situation to several people who seem at the time to agree with us. After phoning up, get it changed to 5 weeks time which is more reasonable.
Example 3 still interviewing carers that have absolutely no work or life experience, despite constantly saying what we need.
Example 4 I say I need financial help to take an educational course and get offered an eighth of the cost, it might as well be a single penny for the use.
Example 5 local new hospital think it okay to put cobble stones from the disabled car park to the front entrance. Arrive shaken not stirred !!
Blog about life looking after someone with a C3-C5 level incomplete spinal injury.
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Monday, 9 May 2011
Our Holiday in Tenerife or "that will be an extra 20 Euros"
The Journey to the airport.
02:45 on the 26th
April we set off for Luton Airport all packed and ready for our holiday in the
sun. We arrive at the airport surrounds at about 04:00 and phone the people
that are going to “meet and greet” us and take our car away for storage during
our hols. I mistakenly think we will be able to unload Hubby right in front of
the terminal and meet the assistance team right there. No we have to proceed to
a drop off zone which is at least a 5-10 minute walk away from the terminal.
Guess what the disabled drop off zone is closed for our use and is not of much
help anyways as there are no significant dropped curb areas to decamp from the
car. So I park up unload the luggage and then have make a herculean effort to
get Hubby out of the car as the seat is now at a very uncomfortable height for
me to lift him into his chair curb-side. It is cold outside and even though the
help point has a small shelter Hubby is getting very distressed at being cold.
As many reading this will know having a spinal injury means that more often
than not you can not maintain your own body temperature. I am left in the
uncomfortable position of not being able to leave the luggage to get Hubby in
the warmth of the terminal straight away because it is too far away and to
leave the luggage a security risk. No shelter in the car as there is a 10
minute waiting limit. After what seemed a very long wait because of our special
circumstances, but only ten minutes, the assistance guy appears and helps us to
the terminal.
Lesson learnt , if you
are very disabled on your own or just the two of you with luggage you must
telephone Luton Special Assistance (07979627278) to meet you as you arrive so
that you do not have to wait in the cold. A
letter is on its way to Luton Airport regarding the unsuitability of their
disabled drop off zone and the fact that it was closed on our arrival. We are
all used to ground level decamping from our cars as in the parking spaces that
we all use so we all need those dropped curbs. We need somewhere warm to wait
if the assistance is not going to meet us not the open bus shelter arrangement
as currently provided. Also are the help buttons at a height that can be
accessed from a wheelchair ?
Luton Airport
Terminal.
The special
assistance people are generally very kind and seemed to understand if some of
their clients are a little grumpy at being man handled. After checking in with
no problems, much relief felt when they did not even question our extra bag of
medical equipment except for the fact that I was not allocated a seat directly
next to my Hubby. After security and passport control we were taken to a
special waiting area to await being boarded. We left carrying out Hubby’s urine
catheter as late as possible as it would be touch and go that we would land in
sufficient time within the six hour window. Unfortunately we were delayed by an
hour so all our planning was to be for nought and we ended up doing it
discretely on the plane before we landed. We were loaded up onto a scissor lift
pod pre boarded via a very uncomfortable aisle wheelchair. This model was a lot
lower than the one provided at the bigger airports so makes transfers a lot
harder. On board due the flight being very empty the Thomson air crew were very
kind and realised that I needed to sit next to Hubby to help him during the
flight. I had to hold onto his legs during take off and landing and during taxi
as the bumps made his legs spasms. The extra leg room afforded was not
sufficient to stretch out his legs but did mean I could deal with them when
they started to move. Whow! the seats on these budget airlines are thin and
there is no where to put your arms.
Tenerife South
Airport.
The Aisle
wheelchair here was even worse as it had no arm rests making Hubby’s lack of
trunk control very dangerous as he needs support to sit upright. The special
assistance people got the hump when I would not let them push his wheelchair
and wanted them to help instead with the luggage. The reason is that Hubby’s
small wheelchair wheel at the front keeps hitting the back of his left heel and
I know what to do to stop from happening, I know they would not, I was trying
to prevent them getting shouted at. You can’t help some people. We were met by
the Accessible Travel rep at the gate and shown to our accessible transfer bus.
Hubby did not enjoy the journey he hates being strapped in the back of such
vehicles in his wheelchair as it makes him feel sea sick. 25 minutes and we
arrived at the hotel.
Mar y Sol Hotel
Los Cristianos
The hotel looks
pretty from the outside, white washed walls, greet the traveller, waterfall in
front and little seating area with an interesting wooden walkway guiding you to
the open spacious reception. On display at the moment is a golf cart that makes
playing Golf a possibility for the less non able amongst us, i.e. Paraplegics
with upper body strength. The check in procedure was much like other hotels
with a porter to take our luggage to our room. We were assigned Room 3316 which
to get there you take the lift from the 5th floor reception down to the 3rd,
walk along a corridor at the back of the restaurant , past the table tennis,
oversized chess, and dart board. Then past on the right, is the first pool , a
paddling pool that is used for walking therapy, steps in one end ramp the other
and why we were conned that there was a zero entry pool on site. Next, a large
pool for serious swimmers with hoist. We then took a metal ramp up to our
floor, from which we could see the super heated pool and hoist.
Our room was an
immediate disappointment and reminded us of some of the seedy motels we had
stayed in on our many road trips in the USA. It had not been redecorated since
we guessed the 1980’s judging by the style of the fabrics. We felt the room could
have been a show case for the hotel as being on the end of the building it had
extra windows letting in all of that precious light. The “room” was made up of
a bedroom, bathroom and sitting cum kitchen area, plus spacious balcony
directly over looking the warm show pool and restaurant.
The Kitchen
Area : supplied
with a gratis litre of water on arrival but no kettle, cloths or washing up
liquid. Cupboards have 3 saucepans, chopping board, plates, glasses, utensils.
2 ring cooker, Oven and small fridge. With everything being so old it all looks
grubby / dirty. So if you get one of the older rooms be prepared to do some
cleaning if you are a carer for any immuno-suppressed traveller. There was also
a dining table and three chairs.
The Living Room
Area: Tiled
floor through out. Old style TV and white painted stand, Sofa that can be made
up into an extra bed, coffee table that we put out of the way as it impeded
Hubby’s movement in the room, another small table with the phone on, white
painted book cabinet, and a wicker chair. We looked around for the TV remote
there was not one so we dialled reception. “That
will be an extra 20 Euros” we
were told much to our annoyance having already paid an extortionate rate for
the hotel just because it was supposed to have facilities for the disabled.
Once we had obtained said remote it was debatable whether we should have
bothered, we could of course improve our German and Spanish as the channels
mainly catered for these clients, English speakers were supplied with Sky 1,
Sky News, Eurosport, Cartoon Network, Sky Sports1. One of our funniest moments
was watching a Tommy Lee Jones film in German that when the Mexicans were
speaking had German subtitles, I know small things please small minds. And then
as a reminder of a holiday we took many years ago in Mexico, where channel 6
was the sex channel, we had what we christened channel dirty thirty.
The Bedroom: plenty of storage for clothes as supplied with built in 2
side tables, wardrobe and chest of drawers. Also door access to balcony. Door
width could have done with being a bit wider for us as we had difficulties
getting the electric wheelchair in and out of the room. Hubby had a hospital
type bed which we paid a pretty penny for ( supplied by LoRo equipment hire)
and already in the room for us on arrival. Disabled peeps BEWARE ! the mattress
is not of a sufficient thickness to guard against pressure sores and because
the bed had metal latts underneath, extremely uncomfortable. It has left Hubby
with a sore achy back. Also if you want side safety bars, much to our annoyance “That will be an extra 20 Euros”. We had already paid handsomely and now
it was beginning to seem like everything we asked for was Extra ,Extra, Extra.
My bed was not much better , one up from a camp bed with a water proof mattress
cover that did not fit. This hotel also uses the old fashioned, sheets, blanket
and bed spread, which some will like others not, personally I prefer Duvets.
The pillows were very worn , some thinner than others. But having said that all
the linen seemed to be old but clean.
The Bathroom: Ours had a small bath plus a wet room area. The sink has
room for wheelchair bods to sit underneath. Taps are not easy use taps, but
they have tilted the mirror to make use by those seated easier. Standard height
toilet that a commode can be placed over. Again our problem was safety as there
were tiles missing and the water did not run away down the drain making the
tiled floor extremely slippery for me as an abled body person. There also does
not seem to be hot temperature safety cut out. On the plus side the shower did
have a hose long enough to reach under commode, but using the controls by those
with limited hand function would not be possible without help. There seemed to
be no mechanism to extract steam from the bathroom. Two small pieces of soap
were provided and plenty of towels.
General: most light and power outlets were at a
height that made them accessible for those in wheelchairs. Please note there is
no heating in these units therefore if like Hubby you are unable to control
your body heat you will need a heater and of course “That will be an extra 20 Euros” . We have a lot building work going on
around our road at home so one of our desires was to get away from the noise
and dust created by construction machinery. No such luck we had drills and
power saws three rooms away, painters right outside scraping away at the white
washed walls, and inconsiderate fellow guests allowing their doors to slam
behind them. So by day 2 we were not happy bunnies and asked to speak with the
tour rep. Platitudes were exchanged , but we were left with the like it or lump
it feeling so tried to make the best of a bad situation. Also to note you will
not find the usual information folder in your room, so will have to hunt for
information regarding nightly entertainment, evening buffet theme, a la carte
menu. You do though get given a leaflet which shows times and some of the
general information that you will require.
The Restaurant: you have no choice at the hotel in that
you at a minimum have to take half board and the dreaded hotel buffet. Having
travelled the world very few hotels do this well, with the exception of the top
hotels in the UAE who have it down to a fine art. Unfortunately as we pretty much
expected, food was not kept hot and good ingredients were ruined through over
cooking and standing. Fairly good choice of cold salad type foods. Most cooked
hot meat were cheap cuts, dry, boring and rubbery, even that which the cook
freshly prepared in the pan. Distinct lack of hot vegetable choices. Canary
style potatoes were nice if you could pick out the ones that did not have black
rotten bits in. French fries style chips available. Several different types of
bread including some of the more interesting German style rye breads, some
times fresher than others. All of the pastries, we tried, small pieces of cake,
including breakfast Danishes, croissants were stale and extremely unappetising.
In other words you would not starve but the hotel good do a lot better with the
money you pay. The A La Carte Menu for during the day was to say the least
unimaginative and not good value for money paid. Alcohol was more expensive
than that found in the bars on the sea front and a large bottle of water cost
Euro 1.70 which same could be bought in local Spar shop for 45 cents if able to
get away to go there.
The Showcase
Pool: everyone
seemed to congregate around this pool being the warmest of the three, having
fountains and water features. The hoist was in constant use and most of the
time a life guard was on duty to help with this. SAFETY : please note it is up
to the guests concerned to make the determination as to whether your particular
disability precludes you from safely using this hoist, the life guard will not
bar anyone its use. This led Hubby and myself watching in horror and holding
our breath a few times when we saw people using said equipment that really
should not have taken the risk. Personally it is my opinion that you take a
huge risk of falling off if you have limited trunk strength, arm function or
have bad spasms. Therefore Hubby falling into all three categories could not
use this piece of equipment and was not able to use this fine pool for the
duration of his stay.
The Staff: most we met were helpful and flitted
happily between Spanish, German and English with ease. Having studied all of
these languages on and off for many years and still not being fluent in either
made me rather envious.
After filling in a
feedback form I had a meeting with the German owner and founder of the hotel.
He seemed to be genuinely disappointed with our reaction to our experience and
explained that many of our problems were due to there not being the Hotel Guest
Relations Manager available at the time of stay due to sickness. Apparently a
Kettle could have been made available plus cloth and washing up liquid. All the
extras we had to pay were due to the setup of the contract with Accessible
Travel who should have explained and asked a lot more questions regarding our
requirements prior to us paying. Most Travel Agents have a fully inclusive
price for their clients so that they don’t get hit with all the extras. He also
thought that due to Hubby’s level of disability we should have been put in a
refurbished room type with extra wide doors, better safer bathrooms etc. I had
a look at some afterwards, the rooms are like night and day! We would have
managed a lot a better in one of the newer rooms.
For my part I will
be sending the Hotel my detailed feedback and some links to manufacturers of
pool ramps so that all guests can get into his pools safely no matter what
level of disability they have.
The Journey
Back.
The Orobus picked
us up and this time Hubby was more to the front and had a lot better ride. The
Driver helped us with our luggage to the assistance point, where we checked in.
Then for some reason even though our flight was going from gate 21 we with a
few other disabled peeps were left at gate 5. Where we waited and waited.
Eventually they re appeared and took us yes you have guessed it to gate 21. To
our utter horror people were already boarding, so instead of being able to get
Hubby settled before the masses started filing past we had to fight for space
against the able bodied travellers. I hate it as I then feel rushed and
pressured . I am doing all the safety lifting so I could have done without
this. On top of this some guy and his wife were pissed off because they had
just paid for extra leg room and we needed to take their seats. The Thomson
Flight Manager thank goodness stuck up for us when I explained what I had to do
during the flight to secure his legs. We thought we were off only to have to
return to the parking spot again as someone had not done their job with one of
the water valves. So of course I had to gain permission again on a full flight
this time to discretely carry out Hubby urine catheter on board. Trying to
explain to someone not medically trained that if I did not do it Hubby would
get seriously ill, not sure whether she believed me but at least she tried to
be understanding. On our landing back we found out that the people handling Hubby’s
wheelchair in Tenerife had partially dismantled it. So he is already loaded up
in the Aisle wheelchair at this point in severe pain and they want me to put
him in his wheelchair with no back to it. On top of that they bash his right
knee on the side door to the scissor pod.
Poor Hubby… treated like a piece of meat… yet again… but at least it did not cost us another 20 Euros for the privilege.
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