The Paige Hansen story isn’t going away. The radio airwaves have been burning with angry callers and others relating similar health system horror stories. CKOM broke the story, and has been following it closely ever since. The Saskatoon health authority is launching a review – an internal review.
From Question Period yesterday. (PDF) (The whole exchange is quite a read)
Babies come and go. But fundamental principles endure.
That of course, doesn’t mean that under the Calvert NDP, the system hasn’t done everything in its power to streamline – the Saskatchewan Surgical Care Network has a website that allows tracking of surgical wait times. They also feature a phone number you can call to find out where you are on the waiting list: 1-866-622-0222.
*RRRIIIINNNG*
“Due to the high volume of calls, it may take us a few days to get back to you.”
Mr. Calvert has been using this “deflection” political tactic alot. “If you don’t like it come up with something better!” Okay fine then Mr. Calvert step down and let someone else try?? I have voted NDP my whole life but I think it is time for someone else to be in government. I guess the only other choice here is the Saskatchewan Party.
Good grief, people are dying on waiting lists and the only solution the commie government of Saskatchewan can muster (aside from “if you think you’re so smart, tell us what you’d do) is “thall shalt not take the name of Tommy Douglas in vain”.
Pass me that tin of coffin nails, Kate. That pesky vampire (Douglas) keeps getting out.
My 17 year old daughter recently suffered a seizure and an appointment with a neurologist, for which we had to wait over a month, resulted in a preliminary diagnosis of juvenile epilepsy.
The next step is to have an electroencephalogram, a procedure which was first performed, I believe, in the 1920’s. One would think that such a routine and commonplace test wouldn’t take long to perform. Apparently not in Manitoba. We got a phone call today from the neurologist informing us that the appointment is on September 5th!
Does anyone know of clinics in the U.S. that would perform such a test? We’d be willing to pay out of pocket just to get it done sooner. In the meantime, my daughter is prohibited from driving, and we have to be careful even when she does something as routine as bathe. She could have a seizure and drown if the tub has too much water in it.
This is the kind of nonsense that occurs when you place your healthcare in the hands of politicians, when you should be taking responsibility for it yourself. The situation’s not going to get better either, no matter how many trainloads of loot are thrown at the problems.
The more heat and light that is put on Health Care the better it will get.
Um, isn’t it a cardinal rule in politics to not invite the opposition party to campaign in the Legislature? When a governing party does that, it gives the impression that it has run out of ideas, and is basically begging the opposition party to take over running the place.
PS Kate, when did my email address become questionable content? Isn’t yahoo kind of ubiquitous?
Something strange has happened with yah00.com and the spam filters lately, and not just at this site. I tried deleting it from the blacklist file to no avail.
people dying on waiting lists is not sufficient reason for all those over paid underworked public sector unions to accept competition.
That wouldn’t be fair and the windfall profits in union dues flowing into the coffers of the Labour Federations would dry up.
Quit complaining about a few months worth of waiting or dying in a an emergency room hallway.
Its the principal that matters !!
Long live socialism. The NDP knows social justice.
People, namely Dippers, like to call Tommy Douglas “The Father of Medicare”. Well, within a few months of introducing the CCF brand of universal health care into Saskatchewan, “daddy” ran off to Ottawa and never looked back! The state of our health care in Saskatchewan is typical of a child that has been abandon by it’s father and left to fend for it’s self.
It is also interesting to note that Tommy was lucky to get out of the province without being tarred and feathered! Tommy lost by close to 10,000 votes when he tried to run federal in Saskatchewan for the NDP. The man has hated when he left. In 1986, when he past away, I was in grade 12 and his passing was never mentioned in our class, not even during current events. I remember my parents briefly mentioning his passing, but not much on the news. Some people are best forgotten.
I’m familiar with the workings of a few health care systems — Canada, the U.S., Singapore, and Australia esp. The best results seem to come from blended systems in which the government sets and enforces the standards and works to provide the best system of care it can for the less fortunate while permitting regulated competition (regulation in this case meaning enforcement of standards of care). Ideology should never trump service and results.
The weaknesses in the existing system are complex but basically arise from the following. First, the government is confused about whether it is a provider, an insurer or both. Second, the ones selling the product (the politicians) aren’t the ones delivering the product (the health care providers) and want to pretend that the product is cheaper than it is. The result is that health care resources and costs are allocated according to political considerations versus real need/demand. Gross inefficiencies result. Further, the poor linkage between the health care “industry” and the education system have ensured that shortages of skilled providers will be endemic for years to come. I could go on ad infinitum, but then my blood pressure would rise, adding to the problem in time to come.
So the premier of Saskatchewan wants to see a better system does he?
It’s easier than you think, Lorne.
1) Turn south.
2) Keep going until you hit Montana.
3) See better health care system.
And I won’t even charge a consultant fee!
The Rev. better get his silly service cadres up to date with GPS:
City turns to GPS to monitor unionized workers
MONTREAL (CP) – Brushing off claims that it amounts to espionage, a local municipality is turning to a satellite tracking system to keep tabs on its workers, claiming the measure will boost productivity. + via cnews
Does this line from the Rev. remind one of a con-man’s spiel?
“It’s a commitment to care that’s not based on your ability to pay.”
Calvert Cards: When you care enough to pay your own taxes.
The Rev.: an apostate Christian minister, now shilling for the Socialist religion; delivering hell-on-earth.
Kate:
Sorry I have to do this in a comment area but my email is down. Maybe some whose email is working could email this to Dennis? I don’t know…is that proper etiquette?
Litre
Reply to
Posted by Dennis at April 25, 2006 04:29 PM
Hi
I read your post and felt that I just had to reply. Your best bet is to do your research on the Internet in regards to juvenile epilepsy.
I just did a quick search to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minn. USA This site will get you to the Canadian Assistance site http://www.mayoclinic.org/english/canadian.html
I started out at the home page http://www.mayoclinic.org/patientinfo/ and clicked on Make an Appointment
Just an extra note if you can prove that the treatment she gets at Mayo was a necessary diagnostic and/or treatment decision you will be reimbursed. You may need the assistance of the doctors at the Mayo Clinic to prove your claim.
If you do choose to go to the US to get diagnostic tests and/or treatment I would encurage you to talk to your family doctor and keep him appraised of what you are doing and have the reports sent to him. If possible get your own records from the Mayo just so you have them with you.
I am a retired RN wjo worked in the hospital or 15 years. I retired because I had challenges with staffing policies.
One other thing you might try is to find out how your daughter has been classified. There are many different categories of “emergency”. The other thing to understand is if she is hospitalized for her seizures the EEG may be done on a much speedier basis because she is in the system. To be hospitalized for her seizures, the seizures would have to either increase in severity, increase in number per day or seriously impair her ADL (Activities of Daily Living).
I have a heart condition and needed to have an angiogram done. Because the attending resident wanted it done as quickly as possible I was admitted to the hospital and had it done in 4 days rather than 6 week. Thankfully it was normal. We’re still trying to find out what is wrong with me. 🙂
If you choose this route you may have to deal with health care professionals whose noses may be slightly bent out of shape but I have found that the best response to that is just to ask them the question, “If it had been your daughter, what would you have done?” It is a good policy to maintain the best working relationship you can with your home-base health care team because when you come home they are the people you will have to work with.
Take care
holy crap the phone number 1.866.622.0222 really does finish with “due to the high number of calls…”
it’s taking days to get back to you? to find out where you are on the list? wow.
New health care slogan- “Sure you might die, but at least we won’t charge you for it”
Dennis, see if another province will do the exam for you, and your provincial health insurance might cover it. Don’t jump to the States first.
Russ the SK Liberals are still here, and Karwacki is the best provincial party leader electable right now.
Michael Moore is making a new movie called ‘sicko'(www.michaelmoore.com) and I hope readers will write him about health care horror stories coming from a Canadian point of view. He seems to think our system is so wonderful.
Should be more like, “We’ve already taken your money, what more do you want?”
We have Faulty Towers healthcare — it would be exemplary, were it not for the patients making incessant demands at inconvenient times.
Denis,
Forget the other provinces (they’re no better except maybe Alberta) and take your daughter to the Mayo if it’s in your financial ability to do so. Upon what has the preliminary diagnosis of epilepsy been based? Has she had an MRI? I doubt it, if it’s taking this long to get a simple EEG. She needs a complete neurological work-up – the EEG is just the beginning. If it was my child, you’d see only my tail lights as I was crossing the border. Good luck to you and your family.
So there’s a waiting list for the waiting list hotline?
Priceless.
Maybe Rick Mercer will do a spoof of that. Oh wait, never mind.
It’s kinda funny how health care waiting times and quality rarely differs in an NDP province vs others. NDP(CCF)always champions themselves as the savior of health care, the working-man, women, and the environment, but they can’t make our healthcare system work any better than the libs or cons…..interesting….don’t you think?
Am I imagining things?
To a socialist its not the quality that counts, but the equality. The base emotions evoked by the politics of resentment and hatred.
When I worked in Medicine Hat many years ago I frequently saw patients from Saskatchewan. Later,I worked hard and long in many administrative positions in Calgary to try to prevent Alberta from going down the Saskatchewan Health Care road, but the reality is the railroad tracks and the trains there-on go only one way. Alberta is, and has been a better place to practice medicine, but don’t fool yourself, our train is on the same tracks, going the same direction, we are just a few years behind. The problem is that the government has competing priorities for the tax dollars. It is not an absolute such as not having enough organs to transplant (although that is a problem), it is the fact that the transplantation program competes with cardiovascular funding, cancer funding,education funding, infrastructure funding, etc, producing a “relative” shortage of service. So the government sets up priorities, and this is done by taking a pole, because their main job is to get re-elected.
It is easy to see why the government wants to keep their health care monopoly. Once people have had the chance to pay for health care they would never want to go back. As far as wait times go it is really this simple. If a service can’t be provided in a timely manner then it is not available. It is very clear that in Canada many vital tests and procedures are not available and people are dying because of it. I guess it is a small price to pay so a few on the left can claim Canada is better than America because we have a socialist health care system.
PS doesn’t seem to like my yahoo address
Dennis:
1. As mentioned above by litre, Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota specializes in taking foreign patients, particularly Canadians. The place is enormous, and hotels are physically attached to it. The cost is not ruinous, and given the obscene wait time quoted, you may get it paid for by Manitoba medical anyway. You’ll have to fight like a badger for it, but WTH. Worth checking out.
2. An aquaintance of mine in Toronto is currently discovering the joys of the health care system for the first time. They’ve been given a potentially serious diagnosis after a life of disgustingly good health. “Freaking out” essentially describes it.
A long time socialist and Liberal supporter (and at over 70 years certainly old enough to know better), this person is now apalled by the loooooong wait times between diagnosis and treatment, and the cavalier attitude of the system in general.
They have been stunned to discover that what I’ve been saying for years (and they’ve scoffed at) is 100% true: the government is quite content to have you DIE on the waiting list. There’s treatment available, you just have to wait. And wait. Quietly, of course.
My aquaintance is now scrambling to find treatment availability in the USA, money no object. And ranting on about it like a hard-core Reformer too. There is no hawk so fierce as a mugged Liberal.
Please note that Toronto, as rightfull center of the universe, has the best access to care in the entire country. The best in Canada is equivalent to the Veteran’s Administration (VA) hospital system in the USA, which is widely regarded as crap by Americans. The wait time my acquaintance was quoted, while long, is considerably shorter than the one you got. They just can’t believe anybody would put a good Liberal in danger like that. Shocking!
My advice, if the wait is going to seriously endanger the patient, as in she could die or be maimed if she isn’t seen and treated, take out a second mortgage and drive down to Mayo. A kid’s life is worth more than a house.
To quote DrD earlier:
“The best results seem to come from blended systems in which the government sets and enforces the standards and works to provide the best system of care it can for the less fortunate while permitting regulated competition (regulation in this case meaning enforcement of standards of care).”
BINGO! That hits the nail right on the head. Other countries manage to provide health care to their people so why does Canada have a (Big) problem? Unfortunately, there are now several generations of Canadians that think tommy’s way is in fact gospel. For anyone, let alone a legislator, try to change, modify or improve the system is tantamount to treason and political suicide.
Roy Rominow blew it when he did the expensive regurgitation of the status quo in his “fact finding” report. His legacy might have very well been that he was the person responsible for the modernizing and overhauling of the Canadian health care system to bring it into the next century and beyond. Instead Canada got a report and an expense account bill. Anyone recall any of the reccomendations, besides more money?
Is it the governments fault when Dr’s are calling the shots? This was a Dr’s mistake not the government’s fault.
Better watch it, if you take up space in a socialist hospital bed too long Tommy will have his eugenics team fix you so you don’t produce any offspring who will burden the public systems like you have. 😉
ok4ua – I heard a report this morning that there are 29,000 people on hospital waiting lists in this province.
“Doctor’s” fault?
Interesting that professional sports teams hve psychologists to “get the most out of them” and Doctors have????? I feel the medical profession has become apathetic and has lost their pride. Show me people who have lost their pride in themselves and I’ll show you people who have lost pride in what they DO.
The government OWNS us. Negotiations are always a sham because of our compassion for our patients and the fact the government simply orders us back to work. The medical profession has been in bed with government so long (paid solely by government) we have an acute case of the Stockholm Syndrome. Thus died the noblest profession of them all!
I’ll bet there are lots of people who don’t have to wait. I think it all depends on your Dr and your social status.
You ask what’s wrong with our healthcare? Ask Ottawa and the Tory and Liberal governments who underfunded Medicare. It’s on their shoulders. If the NDP were in federally they would restore heathcare funding. The only Party to say so.
ok4ua, you seem to be under the impression that socialised medicine could work if only enough money were thrown at it.
Sure it could. For a while. But a bureaucracy can soak up any given ammount of money, no matter how large, with no permanent increase in useful work. Eventually the wheels would stop turning, no matter how high our taxes go.
Tell you something else, there ARE people who get better treatment than others because of who they know.
If you are an important politician or have close family members working in the hospital, a way will be found to get you seen to. Even if some other poor schlub has to wait longer. People look after family first, and you don’t turn down a request from the guy who signs your check.
Duh. That’s what is known as a no-brainer, dude.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was someplace else to go for healthcare besides the bloated, corrupt, red-tape choked public health system that chews up idealistic young doctors and nurses and spits them out as cynical, burned-out husks ten years later?
You know, someplace you could -buy- what you need, today, and not have to wait half a year for your turn? Someplace where it doesn’t matter who your brother-in-law is? A place where the staff don’t look like the walking dead, jazzed into a semblance of life by coffee, sugar and electric shocks?
I think I’d like that, myself. Its called private care. Nice thing about it is, you can still wait in line at the crappy public system if you want or if you have no money. Another nice thing, the line will be shorter.
The NDP would repair medicare. Your parties want to destroy it. It worked until the Liberals and Tories laid their healing hands on it. Your only solution is to privatize it. You must be really rich or just misinformed. I doubt the former and more of the latter. No other party talks about the concerns of taxpayers but the NDP. Their solutions are real the Tories and Liberals are baloney. They’ve had their day but it’s easier to not think about how you vote than vote NDP.
You Tories only wish the NDP were as crooked as your party was.
When it comes to the socialist mediscare system in this country I have only 1 thing to say.
I WANT MY MONEY BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey ok4ua I guess you know nothing about bingogate or any of the others scams pulled by the New Dippers?
Ok4ua exhibits all the things that scare me about the NDP and their followers.
There’s absolutely nothing I can say that will cause this guy to deviate one inch from the Official Dipper Way. No evidence, no argument, no plea for sanity will sway him.
But if Smilin’ Jack does a complete 180 on healthcare and supports privatization, ok4ua will be at the head of the crowd singing his praises and swearing they’ve been this way all along.
You people are friggin’ frightening.
RE: “New health care slogan- “Sure you might die, but at least we won’t charge you for it”
should read ….”at least we won’t charge you EXTRA for it”
Just in case anyone out there suffers under the misapprehension that our health care system, sorry as it may be, is in any way ‘free’.