Waiting for the Doctor
Friday, October 12th, 2007We lucked out. We have a family doctor and
a pediatrician.
It turns out some five million Canadians don’t have a doctor and the number being thrown around locally is still over 40-thousand.
Will these numbers ever drop?
The College of Family Physicians held its annual meeting in Winnipeg this week. It is challenging both provincial and federal governments to make sure that 95-percent of Canadians have a doctor in the next five years.
We found a family doctor very soon after moving here thanks a trip to the Urgent Care following a renovation mishap ( rusty nail..my hand.. not good..)
We were given a short list of doctors actually accepting new patients ( it was in the 90’s) and today we continue
a wonderful relationship with our family doctor in Waterloo.
Our doc actually fits us in. If one of the kid’s is not well - fever.. or stuff dripping out of the ear.. or if I’m having throat trouble… we’re in that day..
That service is pretty hard to find these days.. and I dread the day he announces his retirement.
We really will be lost without him… and Pat who takes our calls and manages to always fit us in.
We take for granted this type of a service on the healthy days at our place even with one our son’s complex medical stuff.. we have the comfort of knowing our doctors
are around locally - they know us and will take our calls.. and it’s also comforting to know that Sick Kids is an hour down the 401.
But I still worry that one day we will be sitting in the local E-R like so many other families do…..waiting for hours and hours to get help.
Let’s hope our freshly re-elected MPP’s can improve this before another four year term runs out.
lisa