Hospitals are a joke, where is all the Alberta money going???

[Hack&Lube]

My 80 year old grandmother needs dialysis 3 times a week because of kidney failure and she also has a malignant tumor (making her unable to sit for long periods of time without pain and bleeding). She is otherwise totally bright and intelligent.

Last week we took her to Foothills Hospital emergency because the dialysis clinic recommended it due to internal bleeding. They called ahead and sent her information. We arrived at 2:00 PM and they made her sit outside in the emergency room chairs (remember she cannot sit) until 12:15 AM before they let her in or anybody saw her because no beds were available. That's over 10 hours.

Today, she was scheduled for surgery this morning to remove her cancerous tumor from her lower GI tract and take care of her pain and internal bleeding and other issues caused by that. Guess what happens? They tell us that it would be delayed an hour or two due to the recovery room being full. The surgical theatre is ready, but the recovery room is full. There are again, no beds. So my grandmother is sitting out there in pain again for hours. Our entire family ends up sitting and pacing for 8-9 hours just today waiting for her "scheduled" surgery which keeps getting delayed and delayed. They are still waiting there now and they tell us it's likely to be cancelled and rescheduled in 2-3 weeks.

My grandmother might not be able to wait 3 weeks, everybody cannot take time off work to sit in a hospital waiting room again (especially when you are bleeding internally)...JUST because they have no beds. Where the hell is all the money in this province in going that the biggest major hospital in Calgary is constantly out of beds and out of room for patients and they have to sit in chairs in the hall? The surgery could have gone ahead, they were simply out of room for the nth time. What the hell is going on here? That hospital was designed in and belongs in the 1950s!!!

This is election season, how do we express our frustrations to our politicians eager for votes? Oh wait, we can't, they are all comfy in AB so they are all campaigning for their buddies in Eastern Canada.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

This is election season, how do we express our frustrations to our politicians eager for votes? Oh wait, we can't, they are all comfy in AB so they are all campaigning for their buddies in Eastern Canada.

Well, maybe that idea of having national standards that Mr. Romano had suggested was a good idea.

Though your question was one I was pondering myself today. I was reading that article on CBC.ca stating that Ontario had the best health care in the country. And I've heard plenty of complaints here so if we're the best I can't imagine the rest of the country. But what surprised me was that Alberta couldn't afford to kick Ontario's ass in terms of attracting good doctors, hiring nurses and building bigger and better hospitals. McGinty is having a hellish time trying to stay within the provincial budget, especially with the economic downturn here, so how we can afford to stay on top is beyond me.

[Dion]

Sorry to hear that Lube.

You might want to take your story to one of local TV stations. I'm sure they'd air your story. What is happening to your grandmother is oh so wrong.

[missdpuck]

Calling Michael Moore....

[Locke]

Originally Posted by missdpuck

Calling Michael Moore....

Dont say that. The last thing we need is some righteous hobbit analyzing our health care system.

I feel for H&L's grandmother, but Fatso isnt the answer.

[J pold]

I have herd in these types of emergency situations it is best to make the trip to a smaller town with a hospital.

A couple of years ago I was out in the Crowsnest pass doing some river floating and needed to use the emergency room. There is a hospital in Blairmore (about 10 minutes from where I was) and I didn't wait at all, got right in and was the only patient there.

I'm not sure how this would work for scheduled surgery's

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

. McGinty is having a hellish time trying to stay within the provincial budget, especially with the economic downturn here, so how we can afford to stay on top is beyond me.

not sure what their provincial debt is ? (naive question, I honestly have no clue)

when I lived in Winnipeg (pop'n 600 000) they had 8 adult hospitals, 3 within a long but do-able walk from my apartment. Calgary (popn around 900K at that time) had just finished blowing up a few and had 3. yet any talk of closing a hospital in Winnipeg led to public outcry. they had different priorities, but then again they had a debt that Alberta didn't. And yes Alberta is debt free in big part thank to oil $$ obviously but some tough cuts were also made that have impacted people

even the last time I was in Winnipeg one of the 7 hospitals still open had to close an emergency room for a night b/c there were not enough doctors, everyone was telling me it was because Calgary had 'stolen all of Winnipeg's doctors' which I thought was a stretch seeing as again Calgary would have had 3 emergency rooms open that same night

[missdpuck]

Originally Posted by Locke

Dont say that. The last thing we need is some righteous hobbit analyzing our health care system.

I feel for H&L's grandmother, but Fatso isnt the answer.

I don't exactly like him BTW. Should've greened that one I don't see him pouring money into Flint, MI. I don't mean to make light of the situation it is a tragedy. I don't know what to think of nationalized health. I just know I would not be able to afford my health care plan if not for it being partially paid for by my job...and I'll continue to get a lower rate when I retire. Lots of Canadians come here for major surgery I don't know how they afford it. In any case didn't Moore just recently analyze nationalized health care in Sicko? And he thought Canada's was great...

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by fotze

I shudder to think what its going to be like in 30 years

Whatever it will be, my guess is that it will still be better compared to what the majority of folks down here in the US will be able afford.

Canada needs to work on improving it's health care system, but for the love of good nobody try to make it closer to this one.

[joe_mullen]

Originally Posted by fotze

I was pretty embarrassed when my mother and father in law from the US visited my wife in the foothills after she gave birth. I guess the thought is that if it was nice there is less incentive to stay healthy and avoid using the hospital. I shudder to think what its going to be like in 30 years, hopefully I will be somewhere good.

not that our system is without faults, but actually, numerous studies show that the canadian system is superior to the american one.

[CGYTransplant]

Long Story Short:

In the 90's Ralph Klein promised Calgary 2 new hospitals. They demolished 2 of the hospitals Calgary had, then cut funding....and rezoned the old General Hospital site for downtown commercial development.

If it makes you feel any better (and it probably doesn't), even if there were beds, they could have also cancelled her surgery due to staff shortages.

Welcome to Ralph's World...or what's left of it, anyway.

The news already has dozens of stories like this phoned in every day....to the point they can't run them anymore. It really sucks that your grandma is in so much discomfort, but the staff is doing the best they can with what they've got.

[Nuje]

There is a ton of money in Canada, it's just going into the wrong places. While there were probably many mistakes made, and too many politicians likely make way too much money, and there's probably even a healthy dose of corruption, I'm ignoring all that for now. When my grandma was in the hospital (I'll say that she received prompt care every single time, at both the Rockyview and Foothills, but I understand that was likely not much more than luck), it cost for cable TV.
Prisoners get it for free. I pay $15 a month to watch soccer, and I pay a few bucks for each Flames PPV game, pay money for my HD package, and everyone who's killed someone in the last 10 years in this country gets it for free. They get 3 square meals a day (whereas in my opinion, they should get bread and water, some fruit, simply enough food to get through, and not be sick to not put further strain on the health system). The only exercise they should get is manual labour. Roadworks and such, anything that does good for society. We have to also spend extra money on police, because murderers and rapists get released from prison and re-offend. My plan would make prisons very cheap to run, would also save the government money on roadworks, and that money could go to hospitals.

I do know this. The system needs to improve, and it's not even that low down the list. My grandmother in Poland died, because she was admitted on Friday evening, and the weekend staff (which is much less people than the weekday staff) couldn't do anything but keep her there until a doctor could look at her on Monday (this was cancer as well).

As far as the USA, it has great health care if you can afford it. Simple as that.

[Nehkara]

You can thank Ralph Klein for this problem. He left Calgary out to dry when he cut back health care in the 90s.

Take a good long look at this:

• Calgary
  • Foothills Medical Centre
  • Alberta Children's Hospital
  • Peter Lougheed Centre
  • Rockyview General Hospital

• Edmonton Capital Region
  • Alberta Hospital Edmonton
  • Devon General Hospital
  • Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital
  • Grey Nuns Community Hospital & Health Centre
  • Leduc Community Hospital & Health Centre
  • Misericordia Community Hospital
  • Royal Alexandra Hospital
  • St Joseph's Auxiliary Hospital
  • Stollery Children's Hospital
  • Stony Plain Municipal Hospital
  • University of Alberta Hospital

Population of Calgary's Greater Metropolitan Area: 1,162,100
Population of Edmonton's Greater Metropolitan Area: 1,081,300

Anyone see a problem with this?

The Bow Valley General Hospital had 700 beds. It was roughly the size of the Foothills Medical Centre. They blew it up. The fact that no one stopped them is amazing to me. Did they just figure that our population would decrease?

Even if they needed to save money they could have closed the hospital, and kept the building intact, they could re-open it and use it as a full-scale, already constructed hospital, now that we need it... but they turned it into condos.

Many of the people my age who were born in Calgary were born in the Holy Cross Hospital which, as far as I can recall, was sold for paltry sum. Now the Calgary Health Region LEASES SPACE THERE! It is just ridiculous. The mismanagement that has occurred in the health care system under this government (I am not convinced that Special Ed is any different than Klein) is just atrocious and I am so depressed every time Albertans turn a blind eye to this and vote them in again.

I am sorry for ranting but being part of the Calgary Health Region, I have unique perspective... we are understaffed, overworked, and the members of my union (AUPE) are underpaid. We have no available beds in the city to speak of and every year it gets worse. Our ONLY saving grace is the new South Campus hospital but it is not opening for 3 years and at that point it will only have 260 beds. It will take 10 years before it is completed and up to its capacity of ~700 beds.

Hack&Lube, I am very sorry for your grandmother's terrible experience. I can only assure you that myself and my colleagues in health care do our best with what we are given. I hope her situation is resolved rapidly and she gets the treatment she needs... and I hope that someday we don't have these kind of stories to tell.

[Nehkara]

We need to study European health care systems. They seem to work well and they are almost all public and universal.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

It sucks, but health care is unpredictable at the best of times and sometimes there just aren't any other options available, we have an aging population which is going to rely more and more on the health care system. There aren't an infinite number of beds in any given emergency department, let alone the major trauma center for southern Alberta. I hate to say it but they prioritize patients and if you were waiting for that long it isn't going to be a life threatening situation, uncomfortable no doubt, but not life threatening.

They are making a new hospital in the south and it can't get up fast enough and that will alleviate some of the problems but for the most part a lack of beds is a problem that will always be present.

[Nehkara]

Source: Maclean's Magazine

Amid all the closures and rationalizations, the Calgary General is unique in two respects. It is the biggest North American hospital ever to shut down and have its functions, equipment, staff and patients integrated into existing hospitals, and its closure leaves Calgary as the only large city in Canada without a downtown emergency department.

[Hack&Lube]

All of my family's problems are simply for lack of space. Foothills is a circus, it's so cramped and there simply is no space in that decades old design. Mr. Stelmach, scrap that useless carbon credit program and just build one or two more new large hospitals for this city. We have the doctors and we have the money. What a terrible and pathetic thing it is to deny medical service because of lack of square footage in a place like Calgary.

[joe_mullen]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

All of my family's problems are simply for lack of space. Foothills is a circus, it's so cramped and there simply is no space in that decades old design. Mr. Stelmach, scrap that useless carbon credit program and just build one or two more new large hospitals for this city. We have the doctors and we have the money. What a terrible and pathetic thing it is to deny medical service because of lack of square footage in a place like Calgary.

the problem is we don't have the doctors and nursing staff. our ingenious Klein government cut back medical school spots and chased out numerous physicians out of province/country. there probably won't be enough staff for the new south hospital. also, the biggest shortage with regards to physicians is where we need it most, family medicine, and medical students are no longer going into family medicine since the specialties pay much better.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Nehkara

I am sorry for ranting but being part of the Calgary Health Region, I have unique perspective... we are understaffed, overworked, and the members of my union (AUPE) are underpaid. We have no available beds in the city to speak of and every year it gets worse. Our ONLY saving grace is the new South Campus hospital but it is not opening for 3 years and at that point it will only have 260 beds. It will take 10 years before it is completed and up to its capacity of ~700 beds.

Since you are in health care maybe you can answer this question for me. I drove into Calgary from High River yesterday to see my specialist and to discuss the results of the blood tests he requested. I arrived at my appointment to have him tell me that the lab didn't do half of tests he requested. Now i have to get more done resulting in another trip to Calgary.

Are mistakes like this a result of staff shortages and the pressures of having too much to do?

Thanks

[missdpuck]

Hope you're okay Dion