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UPPLANDS-VÄSBY. Lying in bed 17 hours a day. Bedtime at five o’clock.
Such is life for Jimmi Landenholm, 22, after the municipality cut its attendance.
– They have taken my breath away, he says.
A fall from a trampoline during a sports lesson four years ago changed the life of Jimmi Landholm, 22, forever. With one leap, he fell to the ground, landed on his head and broke his neck.
– I am completely paralyzed from the chest down and I have a spinal cord injury that makes me lose feeling, says Jimmi.
The years after the accident have been tough. But he has begun to accept his new life and overcome pain and depression. Soon she hopes to be able to move out of the family home to her own apartment. You will start looking for work and studying for a driver’s license.
– I want to be as independent as possible and try to find what drives me. I’m talking about something with service, I thought it was fun before the accident, he says.
Photo: LOTTE FERNVALL / AFTONBLADET
Jimmi Land⁇ lan⁇ hol runs the risk of being bedridden 17 hours a day.
Must go to bed at 5pm
In order to live that life, you need to have assistants to help you with almost everything in everyday life.
– I need help with everything that others do in daily life. To get into and out of bed, move around, cook, and shower.
Jimmi has adequate assistance in accordance with LSS, the Act on Support and Service for Certain Disabilities. But recently the municipality of Upplands-Väsby reduced its hours of attendance from 81 to 51 hours. In practice, this means, according to Jimmi and his assistant, that you will now have help from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Since you can’t get in and out of bed on your own, you have to go to bed when your assistant stops. Get up when it starts again.
– What 22-year-old goes to bed? And I won’t even have time for dinner. I’d like to go to bed when I’m tired, wake up when I wake up.
Photo: LOTTE FERNVALL / AFTONBLADET
Jimmi Landandholm and his assistant Marko Keskinen.
Photo: LOTTE FERNVALL / AFTONBLADET
Jimmi Landandholm and his assistant Marko Keskinen.
You have to wait an hour to go to the bathroom.
In total, Jimmi stays in bed 17 hours a day. If you get hungry you just have to persevere, if you need to urinate you have to notify the home help service through your security alarm and wait between a quarter of an hour and up to an hour to go to the bathroom.
He also suffers from autonomic dysreflexia, a consequence of the spinal cord injury. If you have pressure sores, fractures, or simply have to go to the bathroom, your body signals with headaches, chills, or high blood pressure that something is wrong.
– If my blood pressure rises and there is no one to help me, in the worst case I can suffer a brain hemorrhage.
Suddenly Jimmi starts shaking, his assistant Marko Keskinen helping him try to control the spasms.
– The risk is that he falls out of his wheelchair, what happens if he takes it when we are not here, Marko wonders.
Photo: LOTTE FERNVALL / AFTONBLADET
Jimmi Landenholm, 22, broke his neck four years ago, now the municipality is reducing its attendance.
The municipality: chooses itself when supported
The LSS Act states that people with extensive and permanent disabilities must be assisted so that they have the opportunity to live like everyone else. If this decision gives Jimmi that opportunity, he and the municipality think differently.
Magnus Lublin, Social Director of the Upplands-Väsby Municipality, refers to the secrecy. Therefore, he does not comment on how they reasoned when Jimmi, with his permanent injury, had his schedule withdrawn. Among other things, 8 hours of training have been taken away from him and he has been given less time to shower, cook, and dress and undress.
– To qualify for 24-hour support, you must have very broad needs.
He thinks Jimmi can divide as many hours as he wants during the day.
– Why should he go to bed at five?
– The decision is based on the needs you have according to the law that we have to follow. You choose when you want your support.
Jimmi appealed the decision but it was rejected.
Photo: LOTTE FERNVALL / AFTONBLADET
– What 22-year-old goes to bed? And I won’t even have time for dinner. I’d like to go to bed when I’m tired, get up when I wake up, says Jimmi Lânholm.
Received a rejection from the Swedish Social Security Agency
Jimmi and his assistants have talked about splitting the hours, but they don’t understand how to do it. Partly because of the attendees’ schedule, but mostly it’s a security issue, they say.
– It seems that the municipality does not understand my injury.
Applying for a job, getting a driver’s license, training, and hanging out with friends will be tough with the new decision, he thinks. He doesn’t want help from his parents.
– I want to be independent of them. When Dad and I meet, I want us to be father and son, not for him to be my assistant.
Jimmi has also applied for help from the Swedish Social Security Agency. He was rejected by them and has been waiting two and a half years for the Administrative Court to hear his appeal.
– I wish I didn’t have this injury and be independent, but now I need help to have as independent a life as possible.
– I have just started to come out of my bubble and begin to see a future. Now they take away the breath of life.
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