Charging parking fees at hospitals is more than an inconvenience.
It's more than a minor annoyance for folks visiting loved ones confined to a hospital bed.
Let's face it, even without those parking fees, hospital visits are not generally joyful experiences that people look forward to.
Much as we all wish to support our friends and loved ones in need, most of us would rather they didn't need that kind of support - we'd rather they didn't need to be in the hospital in the first place.
But they do need to be there, and when they are in hospital, we do want - and need - to support them.
It has been shown that supportive visits from friends and family have a significant positive impact on hospital patients' health outcomes.
Consequently, something as seem-ngly inconsequential as a fee to park in the hospital lot turns out not to be inconsequential at all. It affects the health of patients who need the comfort of loved ones around them - especially loved ones who can't find change or understand the nuances of pay parking procedures under the stress of an emergency situation.
Perhaps most importantly, it's deceitful. Only one-third of the money collected from the parking lots at Fraser Health hospitals actually goes to maintaining the parking structure.
Of the $14 million in parking fees collected in the past year by Fraser Health (about $19 million the year before), more than $8 million goes into the health authority's operating budget. That $8 million is actually hidden user fees - and in an honest environment, would be openly recognized as such.
Or it should be openly acknowledged as a part of the provincial tax structure.
It's a drop in the bucket of the province's multi-billion-dollar health-care budget. But it means a lot to people who just want to pay a supportive visit.
