OPACC's involvement in the hospital parking policy announcement

OPACC has long been involved with the issue of high hospital parking rates and advocating on behalf of our families for reduced rates. We would like to thank all of our families who have been involved in this process with us over the past several years by providing feedback, being interviewed for news stories, signing our parking petition, filling out our surveys, and more!

We appreciate having been included in the hospital parking policy consultation team with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Our Parent Liaison, Susan Kuczynski, spoke at this morning's announcement on behalf of OPACC and our families.

We are excited about the changes being suggested in this new policy, and believe that the recommendations will go a long way to alleviating this particular burden for families. We look forward to seeing this policy implemented and bringing about much-needed change very soon! A couple of new stories quoting Susan: CBC: "Ontario freezes hospital parking rates, offers long-term discount" Global: "Ontario hospitals ordered to freeze parking rates and offer multi-day discounts"

Additional note: Despite the fact that this policy does not apply specifically to Sick Kids, as a Provincial organization representing families throughout Ontario (not just those at Sick Kids), we still believe that this is an important step in the right direction that will help many families throughout the Province. We are hopeful that having this strong recommendation in place will encourage hospitals to which this policy does not apply to review their current practices and change their rates to make it more affordable for long-term parkers. OPACC will continue to advocate on behalf of our families!