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The Kamloops White Cane Club is trying to petition the provincial government and Health Minster Adrian Dix to make eye exams free for seniors and people with disabilities.

Club Vice President Vern Short says those fees are often a barrier to health care for some of the over 252,000 residents across B.C. who he says are either blind or have low vision.

“They pay between $75 and $95 and most people that are seniors and persons with disabilities do not have benefits through work,” Short told Radio NL.  “It creates a hardship and therefore it does not create an incentive for seniors and persons with disabilities to go on and get their eyes examined.”

“To me, its a preventative measure down the road because other diseases can be detected though your eye exam.”

The club has created a petition that was raised in the Legislature by Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar on May 15.

“I have a petition on behalf of the Kamloops white cane club asking that all residents, seniors and persons with disabilities in B.C. have free access to eye exams through their own registered optometrist,” Milobar said, as he presented the petition. “These user fees charged by the optometrists will cause hardship and do cause hardship on our seniors and persons with disabilities.”

“They consider this to be a preventative measure for health care down the road, and they’ve managed quite a few signatures in just such a period of time to make it in before the end of this sitting.”

Short says the Kamloops White Cane Club was able to gather 65 signatures in their bid to present the petition before the end of the Legislature’s spring sitting last week.

“The club supported the motion [for the petition] unanimously, and then we had a number of copies of the petition made up,” Short said. “I was informed that the 15th of May was the last sitting so we had to get that petition in to the MLA so that it can be presented.”

Short says he’s not sure what the next steps will be because of the upcoming fall provincial election, though he said the petition will be revived and resubmitted, if necessary.

But in the mean time, he says the Kamloops White Cane Club plans to reach out to other organizations in B.C. to try and convince them to support the initiative.