Health care worker says Penticton landlords showing COVID-19 bias

An intensive care nurse who was recently tried to help a friend find a new home found herself face-to-face with a shocking COVID-19 related backlash.

Glady Mani is a registered nurse at Penticton Regional Hospital's intensive care unit and while she recently tried to reach out to renters on behalf of a friend in need of a rental home in the city, she found her profession to be a liability.

“My account shows I work in the hospital, so people saw that and straight away began replying ‘you work in a hospital, there is no place for you,’ and’ ‘don’t talk to me,’ stuff like that,” Mani says.

“Three people turned me down for rentals, two were polite about it and one guy was very mean.”

Mani was so frustrated by the response she posted a comment to Facebook about her experience yesterday morning, April 7.

“I said, maybe you should put in your rental description, ‘no rentals for health care workers,’” she says.

Mani says she then received a very nasty message in reply.

“If I read you the post, you would be surprised there are people like this out there. It’s the first time I’ve experienced anything like this, but now I know the reality,” she says.

“You clap for me at 7 p.m., appreciating what we do, and on the other side, there are people like this."

Mani says her other queries were turned down, but they were done politely and in a civilized manner.

“One lady turned me down saying, 'you work in the hospital, I am pregnant, I don’t want to take a chance.’ That was nice.

In the end, her friend found accommodation through Mani’s landlord.

“I thought it would be easy to help my friend. I didn’t expect this to happen. I’ve never experienced this type of behaviour before,” she says.

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