Enteral Feeding provides nutrients to persons that are unable to feed orally (by mouth), so thereby in order to eat or drink, they must use these supplies to nourish their bodies.  Some will have other special needs and health issues that if they become malnourished or dehydrated, will cause greater discomfort and health issues and possibly even death.  These supplies are their lifeline to food and water.

Approximately 9 years ago, the Ontario Ministry of Health overhauled their Assistive Devices Program(ADP).  They went from a pay the ADP vendor directly to putting the money in the hands of the patient.  They were hoping the market would respond due to competition. They also reduced their yearly funding benefit amount from $3000 to a $2000 grant, paid out quarterly. Many program recipients now had to pay out of pocket for items previously benefitted to them, and because the retailers were no longer mandated to the ADP price caps, the enteral feeding patients were hit financially twice.

All of the supplies that are needed for Enteral feeding are recommended to be used 1 per day.  Many recipients have to re-use their supplies 4 and 5 days to make their funding last.  By re-using supplies, the person using them are now susceptible to life threatening infections. The amount of funding available restricted the ability to purchase more supplies without having additional financial hardship. The funding  does not match the needs of the individual.  The COVID-19 crisis has also had a financial impact on the retail prices for these products due to the increasing costs of the supplies from the manufacturers.

This petition is created with the intent to have the Ontario Ministry of Health, and their Assistive Devices Program re-work their grant funding model, and increase the amount of the yearly grant to better reflect the needs of the patients.  as due to the COVID 19 crisis, the prices for the products have doubled.

This petition will be sent to Ontario Premier, Doug Ford, and the Ontario Minister of Health, Christine Elliot, the Ontario Ministry of Health and the ADP Program to bring their attention to the needs of people who rely on Enteral feeding at this time of added financial stress during this pandemic and healthcare crisis.