Sask. will now fund teen's 24/7 supports near his post-secondary school
Preston Ruzicka and his family spent months asking province for funding
An 18-year-old from Assiniboia, Sask., will be able to attend his post-secondary school and live independently after the provincial government agreed to provide him with funding.
Preston Ruzicka has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair. He's enrolled at Saskatchewan Polytechnic in Moose Jaw, an hour away from his family.
For several months, Preston and his mother, Geraldine Ruzicka, have attempted to convince the province to help cover the cost of an assisted living home that would provide him with 24/7 care.
The province had refused. After CBC News reported on the family's efforts this week, an official with the Saskatchewan Health Authority called the Ruzicka family Thursday morning.
"The [Ministry of Health] has decided to go ahead with the alternative specific client funding for Preston so that he can attend school," Geraldine said Thursday. "So we're very excited and it's been a long fight to get here."
Preston welcomed the news as well.
"I'm kind of excited to be able to have some place to live and go to school," he said.
The decision brings a sustained effort by the Ruzicka family an end.
Geraldine previously told CBC News that the province had offered to have Preston stay in Wascana Rehabilitation Centre in Regina, but not the seniors' care home in Moose Jaw that the family had found.
She said most long-term care facilities are only for seniors, have long waitlists, or cater to people with cognitive, rather than physical, disabilities. The home in Moose Jaw was the only place that would accept him based on his care needs.
"We've been told by Saskatchewan health that we should find three or four of his friends to live with him so that they can shower him and and put him on and off the toilet, and I don't know too many 18-year-olds that would want to do that with another, let alone have that done for them," Geraldine previously told CBC.
Geraldine said that if she had assisted Preston financially, then he would lose his benefits under the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) program.
Preston even wrote a letter to Health Minister Everett Hindley requesting a face-to-face meeting after seven months of correspondence.
The teen said the government set a precedent when it previously provided funding to one family in a similar situation.
He's previously described the experience as "one of the most challenging" of his life.
"I feel profoundly dehumanized and discriminated against," Preston said.
On Thursday, Geraldine said that although her family's efforts have been successful, she is not going to stop advocating for others.
"[I'll] make sure that another mother doesn't have to look into their kid's eyes and hear their kid say how dehumanized they're feeling," she said.
But for now, Geraldine said her family will celebrate their success and help Preston prepare for the upcoming school year.
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With files from Bonnie Allen, Samanda Brace and Adam Hunter