by Morley Evans
Dear Mr. Wall, Premier of Saskatchewan,
Last week, friends took a relative to the Pasqua Hospital.
They were surprised to see Violet sitting in a chair in the little emergency waiting room there. Violet was in a very bad way. She was confused and incoherent. When they asked what was going on, they were told that someone had left her there. If Violet had come in an ambulance, they might have been able to find a bed for her, but as it was, she would have to wait. A social worker there who took a look at Violet said she didn't get that way overnight. Violet's condition was the result of years of neglect in her opinion. Her friends went home to get a blanket for Violet because it was cold in the waiting room. They put it around her legs and comforted her. Violet sat in the chair all night. She was taken to the Elmview Extendicare on Rae street the next day.
Violet was living in a "care home" in Regina where she was being charged over $3,000 a month. VIOLET WILL BE 100 YEARS OLD IN NOVEMBER, if she makes it. Is this how we look after people in Regina where everyone is so proud? At least Violet didn't die in the waiting room as someone did in a Winnipeg hospital a while back. (In fact, that person in Winnipeg had been dead for three days before they noticed him. Maybe he had started to smell.) We aren't that bad. They didn't make Violet take a bus to Elmview, or walk.
There is frequently a shortage of beds in the hospitals. Does that mean every bed in a hospital has a body in it? Or does it mean that some beds and wards are not being used? Are surgeons, doctors, MRI units and other facilities actually busy, creating the waiting lines? Or are they just idle? Is there really a shortage of nurses and doctors? Why does medicine cost more than everything else combined and it always needs more? Why do we keep adding to our hospitals? Is the population growing? Are people sicker? There is chronic underfunding, but we love it. We have a positive attitude in Regina. We are proud.
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| I love Regina, our official slogan |
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