Don’t cut health care, child care
By Letter to the Editor on April 8, 2020.
A brief note on the state of Alberta politics, if I may.
The premier has said he’s heard and listened to the Alberta electorate but it’s apparent that he’s either had wax in his ears or heard only what Mr. Kenney wants to hear.
As bright as you may think you are, Mr. Kenney, don’t start on hospitals or child care because as a single, you have no idea as to the expense and hardships in child rearing.
A close look at hospitals would show a lack of funding and staffing and overworked but very professional nurses.
Why can’t you negotiate a long-term contract with a built-in escalation clause? This would be prudent and courteous to such a loyal staff and create an atmosphere of co-operation as a team rather than you versus them.
Your abrasive negotiating and cutbacks has led to a militant work group and if nurses strike en masse, you wouldn’t be able to walk any street in Alberta.
A close look at hospitals would show a severe lack of maintenance due to lack of funding and cutbacks. Broken wheelchairs, doorways as bruised as UCP philosophy, light fixtures with plastic straps for on/off switches, overcrowded hallways full of medical appliances and equipment, and most notable, overworked RNs and aides dealing with abusive drug addicts and alcoholics, leading to increased presence of law enforcement officers 24/7.
Only a rocket scientist could come up with a plan to cut back on families’ two- to five-year-old kids with health issues.
If your top aide can expense “70 pitchers of orange juice” while on a government business junket, then surely we can deal fairly with nurses and teachers. These are the people entrusted to look after our aging population and our future, the children of our citizens.
You’ll never be prime minister, or premier again of a province that once was progressive and full of potential. It’s more than time that the citizens of this province invoke recall. It took years to amass our debt and you’re trying to pay it off in half the time is admirable. It makes total economic sense to pay it off as expediently as possible but please be kind in your approach. This is an issue for federal jurisdiction as well.
Chet Mook
Lethbridge
14-13
Chet Mook, you said it the way it is.
Your description of the state of our hospital in Lethbridge is so true.
I was just released about 10 days ago and conditions are deplorable:
Poor supervision of privatized cleaning staff resulting in patients care put at risk including infection. (Not once did I see a supervisor of cleaning staff circulate through the ward I was on. ) This is a serious problem and be easily fixed. Privatization of anything in our health care system results in shoddiness, waste and is a detriment to the patient.
Had about six-hour wait from emergency to having a bed, meaning that hospital is running at 100% per cent occupancy. Nurses and Doctors providing good care under these conditions similar to a War Zone.
My experience was a few days before Covid hit Canada hard.
Kenney’s secret agenda for privatized health care is really about stuffing money in the pockets of HMO’s, PPO’s and other types of privatized health insurance companies where monthly premiums are very costly.
” HMOs tend to have many rules including restrictions on doctors that the patient can see. They are also restricted in the hospitals, labs and other facilities that they can use. In order to see a specialist, the PCP must provide a referral.” – source Google.
excellent letter, and a telling follow-up from kal.
here is a question? why not cut back the overly generous salaries and benefits of mlas? outside of running admin duties in their constituency (even that is rather negligible and nonetheless comes at far too great a price), they either criticize govt from the opposition, or simply bobble head and clap like well managed puppets from the govt side. why not lay ’em off during covid, and then reconsider how much they are needed going forward? and if they do serve some function, it should be at a greatly reduced price. moreover, let us also lay off, and then curb the ridiculous salaries and benefits of the bureaucrats – of which there are rather too many. and while there is some expertise to be found among them, much of that is wasted as they are de facto the equivalent of lobbyists for the biggest corps, only they are paid handsomely from the public purse.
Brilliant Letter says it all. It’s all about trying to force Albertans into accepting a private for profit health care system and education system to benefit rich friends of this government , like Klein tried to do and we can thank these phony conservatives and their mindless supporters for creating it. They are Reformers, not conservatives like the ones we proudly supported under Lougheed and Getty and these idiots supporting them are just too dumb to understand it. The billions they have given away in oil royalties and tax breaks is unbelievable and they are going to put a lot of their own supporters into financial ruin and they’re just too dumb to understand it. The sad thing is they have taken all of us with them.
Maybe we should start suing them and their supporters, like lawyers suggested we do with Klein, what do you think? You know letting them kick our doctors, nurses and teachers around will only create a worse mess for all of us, especially us seniors, and destroy our children’s future.