Wait until it happens to you. I guarantee your response will be very different.
0 0
I am thrilled you are such a passionate advocate for your profession and your patients, Doctor, but not all who pass through the doors at GHC are as lucky. It is honestly shocking how much luck is involved with being a GHC patient. As I assume many small towns are, GHC has been a haven of "taking any doctor they can get" to the detriment of their patients, with many physicians that have practised there who should not be in practice at all. The only people who suffer is the patients - some to extreme degrees. The administration is not at all bothered, and the good doctors just move on to better opportunities elsewhere. Adopting a true family health team model and a better facility (literally any facility) would go a long way to attracting the desperately-needed doctors, along with a massive revamp of whatever it is the very deeply flawed administration is doing over there.
2 4 0
For any seniors who need services, contact the city and/or the VON. The VON took over helping seniors with snow removal/lawn care from the Red Cross some years ago, but I don't know if they're still doing it. One warning - they may charge you per service, which means you will pay an absolute fortune if it happens to be a season (or even a month) with a lot of snow. It ended up being far more costly than a contract, ironically for a service supposed to help those with fixed/low incomes. Northern Snow has been absolutely fantastic for the driveway - reliable and doing a great job, but haven't been able to find anyone to shovel. But the city/VON should absolutely step in to help any seniors/folks with disabilities in need because of this. And never pay for snow removal up front.
1 0 0
Does anyone know if the shelter is going to be accessible (at least partially)? It's an old building and probably didn't have an elevator previously. So many folks struggling with housing also have physical issues that keep them from accessing services, so it would be amazing if that's being addressed here.
0 0 1
The other horrifying side to this already-terrible story is that a community so short on doctors can't afford to lose any doctors - even terrible ones. There are multiple PCPs locally who shouldn't even be practicing, but no one would dare to speak up about how bad they are, because it would mean thousands more will go without should the horrible doctors be forced out of business. Too many people locally who have a doctor have a terrible one. The whole situation is beyond tragic for so, so many.
2 1 0
Also, the SAH website promotes a "Hospitalist" program for minors, folks without doctors and folks with doctors without hospital privileges: https://sah.on.ca/programs-services/hospitalist-program/
If you can find out how this program works, you're smarter than I am. I have a relative in the hospital now, meeting that criteria, and no one is coordinating her care. SAH is an absolute mess and the only people who suffer are patients who are paying with their lives.
0 0 0
The hospital has all the tools to address this shortage. Many other hospitals around the province - even some very small ones - have some variation of a "Family Health Team", where members of the community get all of their healthcare from their hospital, including family medicine. Nothing is stopping SAH from opening a clinic where they rotate their family medicine doctors through and provide that care to outpatients. This should be at least established for folks who have complex care needs and the hospital should be following them, even if they're stretched too thin to offer care to the general public.
0 0 0
"As for the gentleman's son, surely it is incumbent upon the hospital/doctor to arrange for the transportation of a patient..." I was, very recently, told by a surgeon at SAH to arrange my own transportation for a patient when I questioned their standard of care. So this is not at all uncommon, even though it shouldn't ever happen.
0 0 0
For anyone unaware, SAH has exactly two wound care nurses. Two. Covering the entire hospital. They work 40+h high-stress weeks, having to leave their extremely vulnerable patients without coverage after hours or on weekends. This is something the public should know, and something Ross Romano and his ilk absolutely should be fixing overnight - because they never should have allowed it to get to this point.
2 0 0
No listings have been posted by 13
They do such phenomenal work - this is absolutely a shame. Since deliveries are done over lunch hour, are there any local businesses who could use their vehicles/employees to pick up the slack? It would do so much good, be great PR and would take some of the load off the volunteers. Having a rotation of businesses who do it once a month, even, would help so much.
3 0 0