“As a Canadian, here is my latest experience with our ‘dreadful’ health system.

About a year ago, Robert developed a strange allergic reaction to an anti-inflammatory he had taken for years for rheumatic pains. It was a weekend evening, when emergency wards are usually understaffed. The minute he arrived, the nurse at the desk declared emergency measures, a doctor was there in an instant. Robert received a perfusion. The doctor stayed at his side for an hour until he was sure that Robert was ok … apparently, the allergic reaction was so strong, had he waited another half hour, he could have died as he was having an anaphylactic shock. They kept him all night, and phoned me twice to keep me informed. For those who might think my former profession or Robert’s was taken into account, the answer is no, I wasn’t there, and he was never asked. All we have to do is show our health card (and everyone has the same).

I could also tell you how my mother who has Alzheimer is being followed, how my kid was taken care of when he was younger, but that would be too long.

This is how dreadful our system is.

Sure we pay heavy taxes. I am also in the 55% bracket, which is the maximum. But this is the price for walking safely on our streets at night, for not having ghettos, for not paying private guards to protect our homes, to be sure that all sick children are taken care of, regardless of their parents colour or fortune, etc. A price for something as insignificant it seems as SOCIAL JUSTICE.

Immigrants pay taxes as soon as they work, so they too contribute to the system. Needles were distributed to drug addicts on a trial basis in Vancouver. I am not sure the program still exists. It is definitely not a general politic.

No one can be refused a surgery on the pretense that he smokes, drinks, is homosexual or whatever. We have a commission of the charter of rights where you can complain – FREE for any kind of discrimination be it medical, professional, or whatever else (yes, we have a Canadian charter of rights!) and the doctor would be taken to court at the commission’s expense.

Of course it is not a perfect system, as if perfect systems existed!”

While quality health care is important to all of us, be we Americans or Canadians, we all need to know exactly how any proposed revisions to our existing health care systems will be an improvement. Of course we all know our government leaders do have a way of telling us what they think we want to hear in order to get elected to office and have their programs and policies implemented. So the question remains, “What are they NOT telling us?” … about the proposed USA health care revisions being proposed, and how will they impact the quality of our health care.

A year or so ago, I wrote a Wisdom about not always believing what we hear or what the media tells us. But, instead to ‘get the actual facts’ ourselves before making a choice for or against something. Perhaps, with the current USA health care revision proposals on the horizon, it would be a good idea to review that Wisdom.

Feel Good by taking care of your health, for without it we have nothing …

… the Divinity within me, salutes the Divinity within you …

rjsilverfox