An ordeal at the landfill

I wanted to let you know about an incident that occurred to me at the Kelowna landfill.

I am a veteran, 61 years old, and I suffer from primary progressive multiple sclerosis.

At this point in my disease, I'm barely able to walk and am losing my ability to speak without slurring. Anyway, my house does not have garbage pickup, so I'm forced to use the landfill.

Under normal circumstances, it's not an issue to me. But, recently my ability to walk or step up or down has greatly decreased.

I had to remove a couch from my house, so I could make room for my medical chair and wheelchair accessibility. I also had four bags of garbage and some boxes.

When I got to the landfill, I saw five people sitting under a shaded tent. One of the female workers walked over to look at what I had in my trailer and I got out with my two canes and asked if someone could give me a hand.

Her answer? Sorry, we're not allowed to help because of liability issues.

So they all sat there and watched me struggle with this minuscule task for 20 minutes.

I fell twice, nobody moved, no one offered to help me up or to even grab one end of the couch to help.

Then they proceeded to tell me I had to empty the boxes of garbage (I had put in for easier handling) and take them to the recycling bin at the other end of the dump and take four old brake rotors to the metal pile at the opposite end.

By the time I was done, it took me four tries to get back into my truck. I was exhausted, battered and bruised. What kind have world have we created where no one is willing to help a crippled up old man?

Robert Elliott