BC Cuts Medical Funding And Puts It Into... Medicine?

[Seil]

We can relate to a lot of things - we've all had our knees scratched, we've all struck out in the dating game, we've all had a bully... One of the other things that's we relate to is hospitals. We've all been there, whether for us or for someone else. Whether it was a celebration or a solemn occasion.

Hospitals service those who are sick and dying, or just being born. Doctors and nurses deal with a day job that has them setting a broken arm one minute, assisting in live birth another, and finally ending the day consoling a patient. The great doctors - or at least my family doctor - was a great guy.

When I was younger, I went through a window. I was about four, and in a minute I managed to put myself through the window of the back door of our Ontario farm house. A minute later I was wrapped in enough towels to be cast as the mummy, and getting over fifty stitches. I was an accident prone kid, I'll admit that. I was in ER at least once a month, and it was the day job of my family doctor to stitch me up, or to give me an ice pack, or to pat me on the head.

So when the government told me that everyone will have a family doctor by 2015, I thought "Hell yeah!" Kevin Falcon, BC's Health Service Minister, spoke to White Rock a few days ago, saying that we'll spend $137 million over the next two years to improve delivery of health care. It's essentially to free up some work for doctors, allowing them more time to spend with patients, as well as take on more patients.

Family doctors are great. A family doctor is exactly what he/she sounds like - a doctor for your family. When a member of your family is ill, you have someone who knows you, someone you see for check-ups, someone there to take care of those you care about. I thought that everyone having a family doctor was a great idea.

But then I heard about how the disabled are being thrown onto the street, in a manner of speaking. Another relatable moment is when we meet a disabled person. Whether someone is in a wheelchair or suffers from a mental condition, when we're young, we're curious. I met a young man suffering from down syndrome, I had a blind girl in the same class as me in school. These people weren't really differently abled, since that implies that they're different. These were people, and they were fun, adventurous people. We spot all the differences in others when we first meet them, but learn the similarities as we know them, and we've all met someone, lived with someone or have been related to someone who needs some extra help every now and again.

And now these people need a bit of extra help because BC is pushing people out of places like "Community Living BC" where they have lived for years, places such as fully staffed shared lodgings into places such as home-sharing with a care-giver, or families ill-equipped to meet the needs of their loved ones.

Health Minister Kevin Falcon tells us BC will spend one hundred and thirty seven million - that's $137,000,000 - in the next two years to improve the delivery of health care. Mr Falcon, that's commendable - but there were others already needing that care. I like the idea of family doctors, you know I do. I just think we shouldn't push aside those who need it. They money being taken from medical should be put... well, into medical.

[Magus]

Seil, this post is well-written enough to be a letter to the editor of a major newspaper or to Mr. Falcon or whoever. You should do that.

[Seil]

Article for the student newspaper.

[Hanuman]

I never had a bully =]