[Rural]

As I’ve said else ware I don’t really care how the health care is delivered but only that those than cannot afford to pay for basic care can access it free of charge. To illustrate the problem I will relate the difficulty in even getting to SEE a doctor in my community never mind actually receiving any of the procedures by which the government is measuring *wait* times.<br /> An older gentleman who volunteers at our local Habitat Restore recently had some problem breathing and called his doctor (being one of those fortunate? ones who has been able to retain a family doctor) and was told that it would be 4 to 5 WEEKS before he could get an appointment, he then decided to go to the local clinic arriving at about 9am. Here he was told that the clinic was fully booked for that day. Upon returning the next day at 8am he saw that the waiting room was full and about 50 people were queued up outside and so decided that his only option was to go to the hospital; emergency dept. There he did receive a brief assessment after a 4 to 5 hour wait, was given a prescription for an asthma puffer and sent home.<br /> <br /> This in a small city about 2 hours NW of Toronto in Southwestern Ontario that also serves the largely rural area where only *cottage* hospitals exist that are having great difficulty in remaining open due to lack of qualified staff and doctors and no longer provide such services as child delivery or even emergency care at night. I note that any major medical care is referred to London, particularly trauma and life threatening cases, as demonstrated by the hundreds of medivac flights that go over my house each year.<br /> <br /> My main point here is that the measure of *wait* time is completely meaningless! It matters little if you can get a hip replacement in 6 weeks or 6 months if you cannot get to see a doctor in a timely manner to get a diagnosis of a particular problem that you may be experiencing. Further that the few doctors that you can access after a prolonged wait DO NOT HAVE THE LUXURY of spending the time to properly diagnose and explain the details of your problem. The fact that one must wait days or weeks to see a doctor (other than in the emergency room) just sends many people with NON EMERGENCY problems to the hospital adding to the problems there. <br /> <br /> The last time our family accessed any medical care was for the birth of our youngest son some 20 years ago, so you can see that we do not burden the system with unnecessary requests. I am however becoming very concerned that as I enter the *later years* any advise or care I MAY need will be so slow coming that I may just as well beat my head against the wall to relieve the pain!<br /> <br /> So I will repeat, any way you can get access to care is an improvement but I do hope that all my *credits* in the system will pay for it because having seen the costs for a *bed* in the hospital I could not afford to pay for but just the pillow for more than a few days!<br />

[Reverend Blair]

I keep having the opposite problem. This week I turned down yet another appointment with my haematologist. This has been recurring theme in my life over the last year or so. <br /> <br /> Mrs. Rev switched family doctors (with no problem) and, since I tend not seek medical care unless I'm bleeding and didn't actually have a doctor to call my own, she signed me on too. I went for a medical (Mrs. Rev's doing again) and made the mistake of mentioning an inherited blood disorder. Apparently there have been a bunch of advancements since 17 years ago, but the medications can have side effects. They keep having to test me on different things so they know what they can use if I get hit by a truck or something. I have to keep putting off appointments because I generally have better things to do than lay around while they suck half the blood out of my body while keeping me from having a cigarette.<br /> <br /> During all of this, Mrs. Rev needed a procedure that didn't work, and then an operation. Those happened quickly and with a minimum of problems. The waiting times were so short that she had trouble scheduling the time off work.<br /> <br /> Is Manitoba really in that much better shape than Ontario is?

[badsector]

We live in one of the richest countries in the World, one of the G7, with a good economy and vast natural resources. There is a chance that Canada will become the top oil producing country, thanks to the oil sands of Alberta. Yet, we keep hearing that we can't afford universal health care? What's wrong with this picture and why do we still fall for this lie? The corporation controlled media makes us believe that somehow we just can't afford a decent health care. Well it's rubbish! Both major parties deliberately starved health care to the point where it's ready to collapse, because they knew that this is the only way they could privatize it. The US HBOs are already lined up to take over. Instead of vastign our time debating non-issues (like that stupid sponsorship scandal), why don't we break out of this media controlled state of mind and start caring about issues that do make a difference? I am afraid it may already be too late. When Harper takes over in Ottawa, the first thing to fall will be our universal health care.