 |
 |
Janet P... My dear Cyber-Sis <smile>... I have lived in California since birth and have watched my sister - who's married to a Canadian and has lived in Edmonton, Alberta, for the past 30 years, slowly lose all respect for the Canadian medical system which she deals so intimately with since she not only suffers from the worst case of rheumatoid arthritis I've ever seen outside of our grandma's RA, but also from fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (and I better not hear any jokes about CFS being the ''Yuppie flu," cause that's one really crummy disease!). Edmonton's down to two or three hospitals now, after several have closed. In addition, many of the best physicians have left or are planning on leaving Alberta AND often Canada itself (for the States) in order to earn significantly higher incomes. There are very long waits for voluntary surgery, and emergency rooms are always very crowded with endless waits to get any medical attention. I had an assistant while working on MSN who lives in Quebec and he has ankalosing spondulitis (spinal arthritis) and RA, and his experiences with the Quebec medical system parallels my sister's with the Alberta system, Things medical are NOT what they used to be in Canada, I'm afraid! And tho things aren't all that terrific here in the USA right now with the medical system, I still believe we have it better here than the Canadians do. Barb Mallut [log in to unmask] ---------- From: Parkinson's Information Exchange on behalf of janet paterson Sent: Saturday, August 16, 1997 6:46 PM To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN Subject: Re: Health Care for my Dad [LONG] hi ken you said: >We have become a nation of complacent people, who either >don't have the will or the time, or money to fight back, >especially when we are sick!.... When companies are competing >for our dollars, or pesos, or marks, or yen, etc. >THEY should be concerned about giving proper service. >Without us, they would not exist! with my canadian background and having lived in bermuda for 16 years [this unique watery crossroads between europe and north america] i frequently find myself observing some situations in the usa in puzzlement the canajun in me feels a deep seated reluctance at viewing any kind of health care as a 'profit centre' i said to a couple of friends recently: >how is it that the olde 'honourable' professions >law - defending the innocent >medicine - healing the sick >got so tainted by moolah in the usa? >even next door across the longest undefended border in the world >canada's approach is oceans away from the usa i didn't and don't intend this as a criticism [we have all evolved as circumstances have permitted] but simply as an observation by an interested 'outsider' through the wonders of etheria i remain your syber-sis janet [log in to unmask]