Health system leaders should see for themselves
Re: “Don’t trust reports on clinic wait times,” letter, Feb. 24.
Exactly my experience when I went to the one clinic in Nanaimo. There were sick older people sitting on the floor, with canes, crutches and walkers around them.
I live in Qualicum Beach and it was the only place I could get a paper filled in so I could continue driving after turning 80.
Imagine mailing those papers when we can’t always see a doctor when we are sick.
I had to leave at 6 a.m. in the dark and rain and didn’t make the first cut, had to return at 12 noon and wait till 2 p.m.
Imagine all the wonderful things I wished for those people and their letter.
It’s my opinion there’s not a single person in management in our health system that has any idea of what is really going on daily.
They should go to a clinic, urgent care centre and the emergency ward weekly, different days, different times and then imagine being there sick.
I find it hard to believe I’m still living in Canada.
Peggy Bodnar
Qualicum Beach
Here’s a quick trick to get rid of lineups
Re: “Don’t trust reports on clinic wait times,” letter, Feb. 24.
The letter notes clinic wait times only cover “patients who get in the door, not how many patients were turned away as the clinic was either at capacity or there no doctor was available.”
It describes how at the Westshore UPCC, people start lining up before 6 a.m., and if you are not in line by 6 or 7 a.m., you won’t be seen.
The writer describes standing in line in cold weather for hours with pneumonia — repeatedly.
She suggests Health Minister Adrian Dix join the lineups to observe the elderly, young mothers with newborns and others who often cannot receive timely care and are turned away and not seen on a daily basis.
Luckily, Dix has already solved this problem.
Starting March 4, the Westshore UPCC will dispense with lineups. The only way to get in will be arranging an appointment over the phone. If you can get through. And there’s capacity.
Health care is like a radio contest.
See? No lineups!
Mark Roseman
Victoria
A lifetime of service, a wait for a doctor
A trucking company has been suspended from working, due to poor performance. I am heartened to hear that Premier David Eby’s administration is serious about poor performance.
Who from his cabinet will be stepping down due to the lack of family doctors? I signed up for one — still waiting.
As a veteran who has devoted his life to this country, I deserve better.
I moved, multiple times, on orders from the government. I didn’t have the luxury of staying in one place and having lifelong care under one physician.
As for walk-in clinics, that is an oxymoron. Walk in and walk back out, you won’t be seeing anyone.
Darcy Eggleston
Victoria
We’ll be OK with our grandkids nearby
Saturday’s Times Colonist had an interesting juxtaposition of articles.
A front-page news story spoke of the tragic death of a young woman in Nanaimo, because of a lack of accessibility to decent health care.
And the letters page doubled down on the health-care crisis in Victoria, with one writer lamenting the long lines at health clinics with “elderly people who can barely stand … looking for medical care that is not available.”
Then I read that Victoria city council approved a 23-storey rental tower, where “the average size of a unit is 389 square feet.” Coun. Krista Loughton spoke “of the importance of creating things so that people’s children and grandchildren can support parents in their older age, that for me, trumps everything.”
At first, I thought her comment trumped common sense. Why plan for thousands of more people to come to Victoria, when thousands are already here and desperate for doctors?
But then again, who needs doctors when our grandchildren will be waiting in their 389-square-foot apartments, ready to take care of us.
Ira Shorr
Victoria
Publicly owned housing is not that popular
Re: “Private development won’t fix housing,” letter, Feb. 24.
The letter claims that in the U.K., more than 50 per cent of households live in “publicly owned and administered accommodation.”
However, according to recent statistics, only 18 per cent of households here live in such accommodation.
To further counter the writer’s claims, the same research finds that 65 per cent of U.K. households are owner-occupiers of their homes.
Dale Schuss
London, U.K.
Let’s review the math with the budget
One simple comment: $7.9 billion deficit, 5.071 million people in B.C., debt per individual person $1,557.
Who will pay?
Charles Krebs
North Saanich
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