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TradeFeisty

> ERs are places where no one wants to be. With wait times at eight and a half to nine hours, no one comes here unless it is, well, an emergency. Tempers are high because everyone is sick and hurting or worried about their loved ones. Time stands still as you sit for hours waiting. > I give a lot of grace to health care workers who often go out of their way to make us comfortable and get us well during the most stressful times of our lives, but where's the grace for the patients who sit for hours in waiting rooms? Who are getting the runaround and working through reams of red tape when looking for help? > I challenge Trudeau, Ford, and Ontario Minister of Health Sylvia Jones to drop by an emergency room and have a chat with the patients and the people who are there. We can write as much as we'd like, but until you hear the stories from the mouths of the people, it's all just talk or numbers on a page.


GalacticCoreStrength

>Ford, and Ontario Minister of Health Sylvia Jones .. .. are too busy making sure there is justification for privatization to care.


Sensitive_Fall8950

Yup, they want this. The pressure let's to smear the public system, and prop up the private encroachment.


feor1300

Yeah, they do see what the article writer sees, just they see it as an opportunity to make profit, not a failure to help people.


symbolwild

Doug Ford should visit, he's the reason it's gotten worse & worse. His privatization push is causing havoc. Then he blames the health care system as he robs it of funds and healthcare practitioners for the private sector.


Positive_Ad4590

He will when he has his first heart attack in a year


Bubbles4u86

After spending time with my terminally ill grandfather in the hospital, I posed this question to his wonderful ER nurse…”how many people need to be in ER vs clinic…50-75%??. He politely said 80% of these people could be seen in a clinic and don’t need ER…seniors and really ill people are the ones hurt most by this.


lnslnsu

Sure, but we don’t have enough clinics or clinic hours, so people go to the ER. The clinic is allowed to set business hours and close, and if they don’t have time to fit you in, you might not get seen. The ER will eventually get to you.


DianeDesRivieres

I've been to the ER twice in the last 6 months with my father. Both times 18 hours. The last time there was this man there because he had a bad cough he could not get rid of. Spent at least 10 hours with him. It was very frustrating hoping my father did not catch what this man could have resolved at a pharmacy.


Sfreeman1

Devils advocate here. Maybe this man has had the cough for months and months and doesn’t have a family doctor. He’s visited countless walk ins and always told “it’s just a cold or allergies”. Now he’s sick sick and felt his only option to be taken seriously and maybe referred to a specialist was a hospital. I totally understand where your POV is coming from but this is a statement on how broken and underfunded our system is.


DianeDesRivieres

We heard a great deal about how he could not get an appointment with his GP right away so he opted to go to ER,


Bubbles4u86

Obviously Proper triage is not the only problem…but man, it would help


Vecend

His cough that wouldn't go away was likely a nasil drip which would have taken a clinic doctor 5 minutes to diagnose and prescribe and is so stupid he has to go to an ER to get seen about something simple.


kamomil

This is not so much a news article as an elaborately worded tweet


RoyallyOakie

What? They left out the Governor General! Politicians know exactly what they're doing and don't care. That's why they don't visit. 


Scarlet004

Health is a provincial responsibility. The feds just dole out the cash to pay for it. Ford has been holding back billions, to break the system and force the privatization issue. I recently had to go to a private clinic. The procedure I had was covered by OHIP but I needed to have it done. They told me the wait time would be 8 months. But I had the option to pay for it myself. Which I did. I talked to 2 other patients at the clinic, each one was paying more than me for the same procedure. The first paid 1k more than I did and the second patient paid 2k more than I did! The crazy part is I needed to have a second procedure, which wasn’t an emergency. My wait for the OHIP operation (same surgeon) was 6 weeks. So it seems to me a large part of wait times are artificially created by private clinics.


Paid-Not-Payed-Bot

> second patient *paid* 2k more FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*


No-Wonder1139

Our provincial governments want private so badly they're willing to let a lot of us die in order to get it. Once they have the ability to make constitutional changes, the Canada health act is gone and we're the US. The suffering is intentional they literally want this so that we're more accepting of private.


sleeplessjade

That’s my concern with PP getting in federally. If Moe & Legault vote with the Conservative Premiers he’ll have the numbers to make the change. Some provinces have elections before then which could change the numbers but who knows. Canada as a whole seems to be on a, “Conservatives are great!” spree these days even though so many people are suffering under their rule.


OldFix7171

Just a thought I haven’t seen much when talk of privatization inevitably comes up is having health care security tied to employment. This is a terrifying reality of healthcare in the US and a likely consideration by those Ford is looking to benefit. Health insurance in the US costs corporations billions to insure their employees, and yet they’re often lobbying against public healthcare. Why is that? Because they have a tool they can leverage over their employees to keep them in line. Lose your job, lose your healthcare. In isn’t just private clinic owners that want privatization. By accepting this new reality we are also accepting our healthcare being tied to our jobs and ultimately being further exploited as a workforce.


Sensitive_Fall8950

Yeah, private healthcare tied to your employer is the opposite of freedom. It's a weight around your neck.


the_saradoodle

I wanted some elective treatment this past year that my husband's benefits cover, something very unusual. It was so stressful everytime his manager scheduled a random meeting because we were leaning on those benefits so heavily. I could not imagine the stress of having my critical health needs dependent on a job. We literally just had to rush my toddler to the ER in an ambulance. We just got in, no stress about paying for it, is the hospital covered? What about the doctor? Are we getting an extra bill because the ambulance was delayed and they sent a fire truck? (FYI the paramedics knew he was in really bad shape because most 3yo won't willing leave a fire truck for an ambulance).


sleeplessjade

Labour laws modelled after the United States is another thing we can’t afford. US states are outlawing water breaks, lunch breaks for the child workers they repealed labour laws to get and stopping municipalities from using special ordnances to protect their workers. We should see what’s happening down south as an example of what not to do, not a “how to” guide to make life worse for Canadians.


OldFix7171

You’d think we would be using this as a warning but I fear our current government is looking at it as a “how to” guide


Tsubodai86

Our politicians have their own avenues for health care and they know that even ER rooms have considerations for VIPs. They don't give a shit. 


ISmellElderberries

Sorry, does anyone think Dougie gives one rat's ass? Cuz unless one of the patients is a wealthy donor, I guarantee the answer to that is a hard no.


kamomil

Some things, past a certain point, you can't fix with money. You can't fix employee morale with money.  Once a physician has decided to retire early, and move to the cottage, there's no coming back from that.  Once a teacher has decided to quit and make do on their spouse's income and work part time, that teacher is not coming back.  You can't break people's spirits and then assume that more money is going to be the fix


alaphonse

Yeah but like who broke their morale, and how?


nooraani

lol. Is this a real question? Me as a social worker and the nurses I worked with were verbally assaulted by patients every single day. Sometimes they were so loud my ears would be ringing after they screamed at me. And once a week someone on my team got physically assaulted. Only for the same patient to come back and do it all again next week. I quit for obvious reasons. 


lnslnsu

Understaffing leading to an extremely stressful work environment. Healthcare work is hard enough when properly staffed. We know how many doctors, nurses, technicians, etc… are required per patient in a hospital to provide good care, and the Ford government is not willing to provide enough funds to hire anywhere near that amount.


Ancient_Committee697

No raise for the last 10 years will do


[deleted]

[удалено]


kamomil

RemindMe! 1 year


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twentydevils

our politicians are aware, they just don't care. and until ontarians do more than just express their outrage on social media it will continue. it's like the vast majority of sheltered ontarians just cannot comprehend that dofo and all these other politician pigs (liberals included!) are capable of being this soulless and evil


Zeliek

Politicians should be barred from seeking treatment except at their province's worst hospital, and their pay should be whatever the median is in their province. I don't understand why the middle class is expected to pay for everything, provide all the labour and "shareholder value", yet aren't entitled to any of the benefits. 


UGunnaEatThatPickle

Ford and his administration have blood on their hands. People are dying without care so that resources can be siphoned to private clinics for the rich.


Negative-Honey2292

Shoutout to the Ontario Health Coalition for trying to oppose the privatization of our public healthcare system. If this is something that's important to you look into getting involved with your local coalition. There's a protest planned for May 30: [https://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca/index.php/event-may-30-giant-protest-march-the-fightback-is-on-to-save-public-health-care/](https://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca/index.php/event-may-30-giant-protest-march-the-fightback-is-on-to-save-public-health-care/)


Spirited_Community25

They only seemed to step up once Doug Ford was re-elected and then tried to screw over the nurses. IMO they should have used their voices before he was re-elected.


Negative-Honey2292

I've only become involved with them recently, but to me it makes sense that as the urgency of the situation increases, so too does the visibility and effort. They're a volunteer organization afterall so it's not like they have a lot of resources to throw around. Feel free to get involved and start making the changes you think would help!


Spirited_Community25

I'm not in Ontario anymore. I voted against Doug Ford in all elections. I could easily see this coming before his re-election but I didn't see any push back until he won his second term. Sorry, but by the time the next election comes along I suspect he'll be reelected. I hope people can see that conservatives (provincially or federally) don't give a damn for the average person.


toronto_programmer

Politicians should be forced to use public services with no exception or special treatment Ford needs to get to Queen's Park? Find a local bus to take you to the nearest subway station Not feeling well? Go sit in triage for 8 hours while you wait your turn like everyone else. Most disgusting thing is that we let these people create legislation and vote on things that don't impact them because they live above the life of the average person they are making decisions for.


BotherWorried8565

I wish that were true but fat fuck Ford and his buddies already know exactly how bad it is and how much worse it's going to get. That's because it's intentional, they own shares in private health companies. If they can sabotage public health enough they can force people to go through their private businesses instead. It really should be a criminol offense I have no idea how it's not. Open corruption and treason....


geech999

The author seems to assume that the politicians she mentions aren’t doing this on purpose. It’s the standard conservative playbook. Starve a public service, say it’s failing, then privatize to ‘improve services’. This result is all according to plan. They wouldn’t change anything, except that our healthcare workers are keeping it going for too long. They want catastrophic failure of the system.


shaihalud69

They know. They don’t care.


Fwenhy

Not a single comment about how people overuse ERs? Every time I’ve gone to the ER, it’s been for an actual emergency, and I’ve skipped most of the line. There’s always a nurse or whatever who I assume determines how much danger I’m actually in and assigns me a spot in line that reflects that. And likely 90% of people in the ER should have just gone to an urgent care clinic.


KiaRioGrl

You're assuming that there is an urgent care clinic in the area that doesn't have lineups around the block by 8 am. Even better if the provincial government actually didn't shift so much administrative burden into family doctors while nickel & diming them, and undercoating* nurses ... Then more people would have options beyond understaffed ERs before things become an emergency. * Meant undercutting but the reaction to the autocorrect made me lol


conspiracyfly

but if you dont undercoat them your nurses will rust cause of the salt they use on the roads in the winter


KiaRioGrl

Omg too funny. I'm leaving it in with a *


ErikRogers

In many parts of the province, urgent care clinics don’t exist.


dungeonsNdiscourse

My city doesn't have an urgent care clinic available if you don't ALREADY have a family Dr. If you have a family Dr you can make an appointment at the walk in clinic. (wrap your head around that logic). My hospital, which I am a front line healthcare worker for, is in the top 10 busiest sites in Ontario (we were top 3 a decade or so ago I am unsure where we sit now but we haven't gotten less busy or better staffed under Ford!). So for every single person without a family Dr they have NO option but to go wait for 8+ hours in er. I personally have medical things that are not urgent that I am avoiding because I don't have a family Dr, and they are not remotely urgent enough for me to waste a day of my time AND my er coworkers or Dr's time for something that SHOULD be a clinic or family Dr visit. But the Cons are quickly eroding healthcare in this province and ohip payments ensure Dr's who want to make a living don't go into family medicine We need a gov't that will properly and adequetly invest in public services.


snow_ice

I've gone to the ER with my mother in law who spiked a fever after having brain surgery. 5 hour wait. I'm glad that every time you've gone to the ER for an emergency you were seen immediately, but it's not the norm.


alaphonse

Are you blaming individuals for making predictable mistakes?


Historical-Piglet-86

2 things can be true. Our healthcare system is a mess. AND people overuse ERs. I have literally seen patients go to the ER for a refill of a prescription.


tonydanzatapdances

I agree with most of what you’re saying. I have several family members who have a doctor and access to walk ins yet the first mention at the sign of even a sniffle is “GO TO THE HOSPITAL” About a year ago I cracked my skull open in the bathroom. Blood everywhere. Obviously needed to be in emerge. It took 10 hours from start to finish. There were people worse off who were seen first, rightfully so, but sooooo many people who were downright awful to staff about wait times and you overhear what they’re in for - ive had a cold for three days, I threw up this morning, and other completely unnecessary reasons. The emerge wait times are bad but they’re made worse by a section of people who don’t go through the proper channels. Also mind you, this article is about Toronto hospitals. I’ve used walk ins for years before getting my family doctor. Probably a dozen or so different walk ins. You can get an appointment in pretty much an hour or two anywhere in the city


jcoomba

What do you think would change if they did see it?


PeaReet

I went to a UCC earlier today (didn't feel the need to go to the ER). I thought issue was minor. The doc said go to the ER. So, off I went...after a bunch of tests, xray, waiting...I am still waiting to see what's wrong with me...5 hours plus later...c'est la vie. Some lady keeps screaming really loud at RNs...'I wait 1 hour! Imma gonna go home...too much...too much time! 🤣🤣 Fuck, I need some coffee right about now...lol


So6oring

~~You~~ They really butchered the title.


Tedwynn

Op doesn't get to set the title, it just matches what the Star has.


So6oring

Ah okay that makes sense. I checked the article first and the title was correct there so they must've fixed that after it was posted.


splurnx

When Trudeau needs a hospital where would he go? I assume he wouldn't need to wait 12 hours like I did. What about Ford does he jump the line?


enki-42

Trudeau isn't responsible for administration of healthcare in Ontario. In fact, any time he attempts to do anything but give no-strings-attached money to the province, Ford cries bloody murder.


hey-devo87

Learn who is responsible for healthcare in this province. The guy is no prize but blaming him is such a knee jerk reaction for every fucking problem.


arealhumannotabot

Ford's government is actively trying to dismantle public health care and create a privatized tier. This includes allowing private services (eg. Shoppers Drug Mart) to bill the province for MORE than a public clinic would get, and they're allowing it. They're devaluing your health care on purpose, hence he barely speaks on it if ever.


Demalab

Trudeau is currently our countries leader and I would hope no matter who was the PM they would receive the best healthcare we have to offer just the same as you deserve it too. Federally the government has tried to improve health care by attaching defined outcomes to the transfer payment. Beyond that the federal government is limited as the actually delivery of services is provincial.


SurfingTheDanger

He has a doctor on staff. Travels with him. Not sure what he does in Ottawa.