From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2009 #226 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website: http://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Wednesday, July 29 2009 Volume 2009 : Number 226 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- NJC Hitting Boston.. [Monika Bogdanowicz ] Re: Canadian perspective on universal health care (soooo NJC) [Laura Sta] Re: Canadian perspective on universal health care (soooo NJC) [Catherine] Re: NJC Hitting Boston.. [kjhsf@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:47:34 -0700 (PDT) From: Monika Bogdanowicz Subject: NJC Hitting Boston.. Hey folks. I will be on vacation in Boston for my annual trip with my brother and sister from August 7th-13th. I was wondering, other than the obvious, if there were any recommendations for things to see and things to do? I'm inquiring about something not so obvious. Thanks! - -Mon ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:48:36 -0700 (PDT) From: Laura Stanley Subject: Re: Canadian perspective on universal health care (soooo NJC) Rob wrote: ....For example, I have an inlaw who is 58 years old, with a family history of colon cancer, and who wanted a routine colonoscopy done (he's never had one). He's on an 18 month waiting list, even though they supposedly recommend having the procedure done at 50, or even before if you have a family history. Or there is a friend of ours who is 39, a mother of 6, who was just diagnosed with thydoid cancer. She's on a wai ting list in Alberta to see a surgeon. Until then, she has no idea if the cancer has spread, or what she's dealing with. Hi Rob, Why did your relative wait until he is 58 to get on the list for a colonoscopy? If he had requested to be on the list when he turned 50, he could have had it done already. The diagnosis of cancer might seem like one needs treatment asap, but the fact is for some slow growing cancers like thyroid in individuals under 65 years old, survival rate doesn't increase if the cancer is treated promptly. Thyroid cancer is not a medical emergency. The survival rate is very good. Please, tell her. In addition to what you say, I have heard there are problems with the Canadian Healthcare System from a dear friend who is French Canadian and is a physician. Hopefully, the USA can learn from these and not repeat them. In my opinion what is worse than a failed attempt is no attempted at all because of fear and lack of research. And, although waiting for medical care is not good, it is better than no foreseeable help like some people experience here without health insurance. Love,Laura ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:17:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: Canadian perspective on universal health care (soooo NJC) The whole thing differs depending on where you are. Maybe it's because Rob lives in a smaller city. I think it also depends on how on top of things your family doctor is and/or what kinds of connections they have. My ex-husband had a colonoscopy done and didn't have to wait long - maybe a couple of weeks. This wasn't urgent. My sister had a hip replaced a couple of years ago. I've heard horror stories about how long some people have to wait for this, but she didn't have to wait long at all. It might have been a couple of months from the time she saw the family doctor about it, got a referral to a specialist and then had the surgery done. It might have been a bit of luck, as she chose to have the surgery done in the summer. A lot of people will put off non-emergency surgery over the summer because they don't want to spend their summer recuperating from something. As well, we live in a big city and our doctor (she and I have the same one) seems very good at connecting you with specialists. Then again, they are tracking wait times for certain things now and joint replacement is one of the things they're tracking - first, tracking how long it takes at every hospital for this type of thing and then aiming for a target time within which they think it should be done. Of course if it's emergency, it's done right away. Sometimes a delay in non-emergency surgery is caused by an emergency taking precedence. Evian is right though. There are things very wrong with health care here, and every province runs its own health-care system, so things are different in each province, but there are themes across the country. Wait times is a big issue. Bed closures is another. I lay it at the feet of politicians who can't think past the next election. They promise people their government will cut taxes. If you cut taxes, you've either got to change the way you do things or cut back on services. Generally speaking, inertia rules and services are cut. Changing the way we do things takes longer. So, governments tell hospitals to stay within budget and this time we're not going to bail you out. Hospitals react by shutting beds or services and/or laying off nurses. We cut back on medical school spaces and guess what? Now we have a shortage of family docs, especially in rural areas. And the current crop of docs is retiring. So, as Evian says, we steal them from other countries. So now we realize, jeez, who'd have guessed? we need more docs. How fast can we train them? What do we do in the meantime? We encourage the use of other health professionals - nurses, nurse practitioners, doing something about letting the graduates of foreign medical schools who immigrated here and are driving taxis, practice something like medicine by upgrading their skills or whatever. It is still better than having platinum service for one group (the rich) and none for another (the poor) and letting the working people who either have no insurance or very little go broke if something catastrophic happens. The whole thing is very complex. - --- On Tue, 7/28/09, Laura Stanley wrote: > From: Laura Stanley > Subject: Re: Canadian perspective on universal health care (soooo NJC) > To: evian@sasktel.net > Cc: joni@smoe.org > Received: Tuesday, July 28, 2009, 12:48 PM > Rob wrote: > ....For example, I have an inlaw who is 58 years old, with > a family history of > colon cancer, and who wanted a routine colonoscopy done > (he's never had one). > He's on an 18 month waiting list, even though they > supposedly recommend having > the procedure done at 50, or even before if you have a > family history. Or > there is a > friend of ours who is 39, a mother of 6, who was just > diagnosed with thydoid > cancer. She's on a wai ting list in Alberta to see a > surgeon. Until then, she > has no idea if the cancer has spread, or what she's dealing > with. > > > > Hi Rob, > Why did your relative wait until he is 58 > to get on the list for a > colonoscopy? If he had requested to be on the list > when he turned 50, he > could have had it done already. > The diagnosis of cancer might seem like > one needs treatment asap, but the > fact is for some slow growing cancers like thyroid in > individuals under 65 > years old, survival rate doesn't increase if the cancer is > treated promptly. > Thyroid cancer is not a medical emergency. The > survival rate is very good. > Please, tell her. > In addition to what you say, I have heard > there are problems with the > Canadian Healthcare System from a dear friend who is French > Canadian and is a > physician. Hopefully, the USA can learn from these > and not repeat them. > In my opinion what is worse than a failed attempt is > no attempted at all > because of fear and lack of research. And, although > waiting for medical care > is not good, it is better than no foreseeable help like > some people experience > here without health insurance. > Love,Laura > __________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:40:06 -0400 From: kjhsf@aol.com Subject: Re: NJC Hitting Boston.. I went on a whale watch, which was a lot of fun!? I also remember enjoying walkng around Beacon Hill and Harvard Yard! have a great time! Ken - -----Original Message----- From: Monika Bogdanowicz To: Joni people! Sent: Tue, Jul 28, 2009 11:47 am Subject: NJC Hitting Boston.. Hey folks. I will be on vacation in Boston for my annual trip with my brother and sister from August 7th-13th. I was wondering, other than the obvious, if there were any recommendations for things to see and things to do? I'm inquiring about something not so obvious. Thanks! - -Mon ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2009 #226 ***************************** ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------