Hannah Lunden suffered a spinal cord injury and became paralyzed after a riding accident ten years ago. She needs help with most things. Nevertheless, today she lives a social life and works 40 percent. There is a lot of laughter and energy around the 24-year-old from Agder. In a Teams meeting at work, Hannah will make a heart greeting with her fingers. Because her fingers are paralyzed, she gets help from her assistant. Like around 4,000 others in this country, Hannah receives user-controlled personal assistance, BPA. But there are big differences in what the municipalities offer, which Hannah experienced when she wanted to move to Kristiansand to study. There she risks having to be alone in the apartment 19 hours a day. Meeting friends or taking part in activities, she will only get help for three hours a week. The municipality suggests that she can use a security alarm if she needs help “during periods of aloneness”. Study plans Today, Hannah lives in Gjerstad municipality. Now she wants to get an education and study psychology in Kristiansand. It turns out to be very difficult. The 24-year-old is shaken by the offer from Kristiansand. Now she is appealing the decision. Photo: Hallgeir Aunan / news If she moves to Kristiansand, an hour and a half’s drive from Gjerstad, she will get less than a third of the BPA hours she has today. Kristiansand municipality offers five hours of BPA a day, or 37 hours a week. The resolution from the municipality describes in detail what the assistants can help with. The offer from Kristiansand municipality The resolution from Kristiansand municipality* specifies that the assistants can help Hannah with these tasks: Personal hygiene and dressing and necessary transfers Toilet visits Cooking simple meals and hot dinners Washing dishes for own use Cleaning (floor washing, dusting, vacuuming of rooms that are in daily use, washing the bathroom) Interior window washing 2 x each year Washing aids Changing the bed and washing clothes twice a week Removing and emptying rubbish daily Escorting to cultural and leisure activities three hours a week. * This is an extract from the decision from Kristiansand municipality, dated 15 June 2024. If the assistant is ill, Kristiansand municipality also specifies that she will receive help for two toilet visits per day and to change her sitting position five times a day. Hannah Lunden talks about how she would have been without BPA, as she is today. – What do you think about the offer from Kristiansand? – It is absolutely crazy that you get one offer in one municipality, and in the next municipality you get a completely different offer. I have exactly the same needs regardless of whether I live in Gjerstad or Kristiansand. The decision by Kristiansand municipality on 37 hours of BPA per week. Photo: Hallgeir Aunan / news – What would your life be like if you had help 37 hours a week? – It would become something called a survival decision. I just wanted to be able to get out of bed and get help with very basic things like taking a shower and going to the bathroom. – No opportunity to actually live – Can you move with assistants 37 hours a week? – I can’t do that. It is two and a half hours in the morning and two and a half hours in the evening. Lunden also responds to how many hours are set aside for leisure activities in the offer. – I have been given three hours a week to be social. Anyone who knows me knows that it is the least that is needed every day. Lunden says moving would mean a completely different everyday life than today. – One thing is the basic needs. It’s going to the bathroom, cooking and taking a shower. But actually being able to live, you don’t have the opportunity to do that. Life today In her home municipality of Gjerstad, she is today helped by an assistant from 8.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m. every day. In total, she gets 16 hours of BPA every day, or 113 hours a week. Lunden works with BPA and uses the experience in the job. Here she and her colleagues make a TikTok video: Lunden works as a relationship consultant in “Prima Assistanse”. The job involves well over 100 travel days a year. – I am working on using my own experience of living with BPA to spread knowledge to everyone who either has a need themselves, or who works around the systems. Everything from municipal employees, politicians, Nav, companies or assistants and supervisors. Kristiansand answers Hannah has released Kristiansand municipality from the duty of confidentiality, and Brede Skaalerud, director of health and coping, answers on behalf of the municipality. Brede Skaalerud, director of health and coping in Kristiansand, believes the municipality has made a good assessment. Photo: Heidi Ditlefsen / news – I cannot go into the specific proceedings, but I am confident that we have had a careful and thorough assessment, says Skaalerud. – But why does she get so much less BPA from Kristiansand than from Gjerstad? – We have to stick to ensuring that each individual receives what falls within the scope of necessary and proper health and care services. This is the legal basis for BPA as of today. This means personal and practical assistance, as well as support contact. He says Kristiansand municipality is not aware of what assessment Gjerstad municipality has made. – If someone is to receive more than necessary services, we challenge the important principle that all users with equal needs must be treated equally. Having the services delivered as user-directed personal assistance does not trigger the right to more hours than one would get with ordinary health and care services. Hannah Lunden has complained about the offer from the municipality. – We are concerned that if there are users who are not satisfied with the decision, that they make use of the access to appeal to the State Administrator. Now the State Administrator will assess, and we are dealing with that, says Skaalerud. Selling an apartment Before Hannah got the offer for BPA, she had prepared for life as a student in Kristiansand. The apartment in Kristiansand, which she has never been allowed to move into, has been put up for sale. Photo: screenshot With her disability, she needed a home that is adapted to her needs. That is why she started by buying an apartment. She has renovated the bathroom and made the apartment ready. Now she feels that everything is uncertain and does not dare to sit with the apartment. That is why she has put it up for sale, before she has had time to move in. – I thought I would be very smart to buy a flat first, then apply for BPA, and then apply for studies. The differences worry The Minister of Health and Welfare worries about the large inequalities in Municipality Norway. The Minister of Health and Care, Jan Christian Vestre, believes that the large differences are a problem. Photo: Vibecke Wold Haagensen / news – All people in our society must have the same right to participate, and people with disabilities have the right to assistance. That is why we have sent out a circular to all municipalities in Norway, reminding them of their duties and what rights the citizens have. – How to ensure a more equal offer? – It is about there being good competence in the municipalities, that you know the regulations well, that you know what the citizens are entitled to. Then it is about having access to assistants, and that there are finances to finance the scheme. He points out that this is a public responsibility. – People with disabilities should be confident that they will receive help and offers of assistance when they need it. Known issue In 2021, a public committee presented the study “Self-managed is well-managed” with proposals for improvements in the scheme of user-managed personal assistance. Even then, the committee pointed to the challenges of large differences from municipality to municipality: the report states, among other things, that “it is unfortunate that the variations are so large” and that “the variations lead to large differences between disabled people”. Erlend Svardal Bøe, spokesperson for health policy, the Conservative Party is calling for a report to the Storting on BPA. Photo: Andreas Lekang / news Health policy spokesperson in the Conservative Party, Erlend Svardal Bøe, believes it is high time that the inequalities are corrected. He has asked questions to the Minister of Health and Care and is calling for a report to the Storting with proposals on how the situation can be improved. – It seems that the government will not present a report on BPA to the Storting that will enable the Storting to make improvements. He believes it is crucial. – BPA must be an equality tool that will ensure that people can participate in society and in everyday life on an equal basis with many others. The Minister of Health and Care says the work takes time. – We are working on the notification to the Storting. These are big and quite complicated questions. Extensive investigation work is being carried out. He cannot say when the message is ready. For Hannah, the big differences mean that her dream of studying has been put on hold. Published 16.11.2024, at 18.15
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Hannah (24) puts her dream of studying on hold – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
