Couple forced to live in car to get health treatment
AN elderly man is being forced to remain homeless on the Gold Coast so he can get urgent medical treatment.
Despite Ian Parrish being unable to find affordable accommodation within the city, he won’t leave it to find a permanent home because it would see him cut from public health system waiting lists.
The 71-year-old and his wife Erika have been living out of their car for the past five weeks and has a range of serious health issues.
But the city’s expensive property market and lack of social housing means the couple can only find affordable housing outside the city. But that would remove him from the Gold Coast University Hospital waiting lists he has been on for months and cut him off from his GP.
“I’ve had friends who in the past were saying ‘Just move, leave town so you can have a roof over your head’ but what people don’t understand is all of the medical stuff we need is here,” he said.
“After living in the area for 30 years … I’m familiar with the hospital here and the GP I see knows me and my biggest worry is if I left, I wouldn’t get the same immediate attention I’m getting now.
“And now that they’ve found, after I had an MRI, a lesion in the prostate – I can’t just pull up stakes and go somewhere else even if I wanted to.”
A biopsy for early diagnosis within the next four to five weeks is critical, with the Parish family having a history of prostate cancer.
The condition killed Mr Parish’s grandfather.
He also suffers from a range of medical issues, including extremely high blood pressure and arthritis.
With no end in sight to his homelessness, Mr Parrish said the biopsy and any potential cancer treatments would have to be postponed indefinitely.
“It’s difficult to do the preparatory work that’s needed for a biopsy if you haven’t got somewhere you can live and reach a clean toilet immediately, several times during the day as you drink all of the stuff they give you to clean
you out,” he said.
The laxatives used to aggressively clear out the bowls for colonoscopies and prostate cancer biopsies means Mr Parrish would need constant access to clean bathroom facilities.
However, most if not all public bathrooms are locked at night, making it impossible to prepare for the biopsy while maintaining his dignity.
And unless Mr Parrish can
find a long-term housing solution – any potential treatment for the lesion, of either surgery or weeks of radiation, are completely off the table as well while he is homeless.
Despite almost 5000 people waiting on government housing waiting lists, no extra government funding has been allocated to addressing homelessness in the 2022-23 state budget.
It comes after a Bulletin investigation
revealed at least 1455 extra emergency housing units must be built to tackle a “tsunami” of homelessness in the city.
For the elderly couple, their recent transient living conditions is a symptom of the dark side of the city’s development boom.
“What we’re looking for is a place to live until we die. Hopefully that’s not tomorrow.”