Just Pondering: In the trenches

By Allyson McCaw on January 26, 2023.

So here we are at the start of a new year and I must admit I am a bit unsettled.

Try as I may to be optimistic about 2023, there are many things in turmoil. Primarily, our health-care system. I may be jaded after 40 years in the business but I really don’t remember a time when access and accountability in the medical field is in such peril. It is not only in Alberta but all across Canada. Many are literally scrambling to find a family doctor, wait times for surgery are getting longer and staffing at all levels in our hospitals are at a critical all-time low.

Granted, COVID was a big factor in creating the so-called perfect storm, but I believe things were brewing before the pandemic.

For several years, unions have been warning about the high rate of senior staff retiring and COVID pushed all of us on the fence about an exit date over the edge. The level of burnout is off the charts. Morale on the frontlines hit an all-time low and then dipped some more.

However, I do believe it will turn around. It will take very strong leadership and yes the holy grail of lots of money. Lots of money. And there is the rub! Where does it come from? Million-dollar question for sure. I do not have an answer and there is no easy fix. Money has to be infused, but please let us be smart about where and how that money is spent. Our politicians at every level both federal and provincial are really good at reinventing the wheel. When it comes to rearranging the governing bodies, we see-saw between public and private care.

There is no fast or easy answer to any of this. But I beg of the premiers and anyone with any pull on this matter, please talk to the frontline workers, go into the trenches.

Actually spend a week shadowing an ER doctor, follow a surgeon as they have to make decisions about who gets that hip surgery and who has to wait.

There is truly not enough able staff to look after the patients. I also believe new grads coming out of school have to feel their future career is going to be rewarding and worth the effort, because they have lots of choices and they will go where there is the biggest carrot.

So please, don’t throw money at the system and hope it works. Listen and learn. Let’s try to repair some of the damage with intelligence and perseverance.

Allyson McCaw is a Medicine Hatter

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