Calgary Hospitals a Disgrace

[Upuranus]

People can always start a conversation by commenting on the weather.Here in Calgary our crumbling Hospitals are a daily subject.Hospital Administrators are always in denial mode......"There is no bed shortage..Staff are not stretched to the limit..Waiting times are not excessively long.." The reality is far different,though.The Peter Lougheed Hospital ambulance delivery side in Emergency has as many Police and EMS personnel waiting with a patient as the crowded public side waiting for help.EMS & Police cannot leave until a DR. signs in the patient.An ambulance with 2 EMS might be able to make 2 service calls a day.All this personnel and equipment held up and unable to effectively serve the public need.On the other side of the door it's standing room only and a 12 hour wait where a husband begs for a bed for his wife and told there is no bed.His wife miscarries and CEO Jack Davis says he's sorry.We elect our MLA's,our school board,our city alderhumans,our mayor,even an imaginary Senator yet this uneducated,ex-investigative reporter and typing instructor buffoon Ralph Klein says nearly 1,000,000 Calgarians don't have the intelligence to elect a Health Board.Only he knows what's best for us.So he creates an Alberta Senate, aka the CRHA and appoints washed up politicians and cronies.We have a new Premier and I call on Mr. Stelmach to dump this stagnant,unimaginative but highly paid Board and set things straight with an elected one.Then clean out most of the front-line managers in this now-ensconced bureaucracy who are likewise brought in not for any discernible abilities except loyalty to the Chief.Any front line worker will tell you the same thing about some of these managers.Just what does this Muhammad Rasheed,Board Member National Visible Minority Council,contact at [email protected],Fax 403-944-8060 actually do?His writings are all over the 'net so it's no breach of privacy.Just 1 example of many,many do-nothings.This is Ralph's legacy.I urge all to write Premier Stelmach and demand a change.New people with new ideas are needed and now is the time to demand it.What Ralphy giveth,Ed Stelmach can taketh.So write or email and demand a change for the better.Thank you. By the way,does anyone actually know who our elected imaginary Senator is?

[margrace]

Ontario people need to take note of this. Quietly and very unpublized, behind your backs Mr. Smitherman is has set up the same type of board in Ontario. Every heard of the LHINs, well there's one in your community and it is all powerful.

[William Ashley]

Health care in Canada (and I can only imagine in more privatized alberta) is drawn on some very professional lines.

Obviously it is up to the public to create a viable health care system. In a privatized reality,this means setting up a company dedicated to providing that level of care within the budgetary constraints. It means finding doctors and other staff, and having community support to do it. Competitive business is like that... just because it is private doesn't mean private individuals can't be concerned about the public.

There are medical issues everywhere,and it is in part due to the way in which the health system the medical institution and the professionals mitigate their vision of a working system.

It could be worse.. no hostpitals.. obviously you can either change it from the inside or start your own..those are the only two options.

From the picture painted though, obviously there are some issues with the way that the system is being administered, for instance why would many people be tied up if instead they had their own predr available to loosen up any staff accumulation issues.

As for the health board.. I think that health services should be internally managed, as I beleive emergency services should be personally managed.. with a ministerial oversight. I think though that private insituttions should only operate in a system that has a baseline public capacity.

[geoffrey]

Upuranus, please use paragraphs.

The only solution to our hospital situation is to allow some private competition. More money has never worked, why would we continue throwing money down that hole.

Let others open up hospitals, if they are willing to do so we have no real reason to prevent them. The SCC already ruled that the government cannot force someone to suffer or die waiting for the public system. We'll have to see what the government does to protect our right to choice in care, or perhaps they'll use the Notwithstanding clause to protect this ridiculous idea of 'Medicare' and Canadians will continue to suffer needlessly.