Teidra Savignac writes of a first person experience she had with Ontario's health care system this week.
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"In Canada, we are lucky enough to have a health care system that is highly revered and is also held as one of the foremost examples to be emulated by other countries. Why is it then, that our government continues to make financial cuts in what is arguably one of our most important sectors?
"Our family has now experienced firsthand the effect these governmental cuts can have. We believe this was not an isolated incident as it could have happened to anyone at any age requiring medical attention. However, this particular story involves our 80-year-old parents.
"Our dad has been battling cancer for the past 3.5 years and was admitted to Anson General Hospital in Iroquois Falls on March 24. Doctors there determined on Mar. 31st that a CAT scan was needed to be performed as soon as possible, at the closest hospital available to do it. This happened to be Temiskaming Hospital in New Liskeard. They sent our Dad by ambulance that afternoon at 2:30 pm, with no idea as to when he would return, although the overall pretense was that when his scan was done, he would be sent back to Iroquois Falls. One of my siblings was there to ask that they give our mom some pain medication to take with them, and thankfully so, as they were shipping him off without any. This in itself is troublesome, as he had been steadily and regularly administered pain medication leading up to his departure.
"Upon arriving at the New Liskeard hospital the paramedics got our dad registered and placed him in a wheelchair, brought them to the scan area and left. My mom, realizing my dad needed a bed and not a wheelchair, asked for a cot for him after the scan was done. She however was not given any blankets so she used her coat to cover him up. If this wasn’t bad enough, matters only got worse when the New Liskeard hospital was ready to send my dad back to Iroquois Falls. Our parents were advised that apparently due to funding cuts, ambulances were no longer available to transport patients after hours unless they were in an emergency situation. Since it was now considered after hours, they would not be sending our father back by ambulance, but rather by taxi.
"As stated earlier, our dad was transported from Anson General Hospital to New Liskeard by ambulance, on a stretcher, all cozy, wrapped in blankets. At this point they are sending a senior, cancer patient out in a snow storm with no coat, boots, etc… in a taxi. My parents were told the taxi would be coming at approximately 9 pm, and our dad was brought to the doors of the hospital in a wheelchair and left there at 8:45 pm. The taxi did not arrive until 9:30 pm and no one but our mom was there to assist my dad, who could barely support himself, into the taxi. This taxi ride, which would have typically taken 2 hours to drive, took 3 hours in the ice/snow storm. Our father was admitted to hospital initially because he required the medical care/treatment from doctors/nurses, yet somehow it was deemed appropriate to send this patient with his wife in a taxi, without any medical assistance.
Not being transported in an ambulance also meant that he didn’t have a direct entry into the Iroquois Falls hospital, after hours. This means they were standing outside ringing a bell for entry. It was now 12:30am (10 hours from the time he left Iroquois Falls in the ambulance) and all pain management was long gone. It wasn’t until four hours later before medical staff had administered enough pain medication, for our dad to be able to get some sleep after an exhausting day and uncomfortable and freezing ride back.
Both our federal and provincial governments should be ashamed. This is the best our health care system has to offer? Funding cuts lead to reduced staff, which in turn leads to poor care of patients. He deserved better. We deserved better. Ontarians and Canadians deserve better.
Teidra Savignac
