Editor, The News:
Re: Regionalization destroyed health care (Letters, Jan. 19).
I am also in full agreement with Claire Rollins, Betty McKendrick and Cathy Dyke.
My mother died last May and had a full year of illnesses which sent her from home to hospital several times, each time being sent home before she was ready.
She was falling and had so many prescriptions I couldn’t even figure out how to help her administer them.
Each time she went home, she had more on the list, on top of ending up with an asthma puffer she didn’t know what to do with.
Needless to say, she still had her full faculties and knew what she was on and when to take them. Only thing was she was too ill to cook, clean or take care of her own needs.
The doctors didn’t want her in a nursing home because she was so sharp in her mind and felt she would go down hill being with others that she couldn’t converse with. They wanted her out of the hospital so bad that she ended up back within weeks.
This happened so many times that they told her she needed to go to a home where she would get 24/7 care because they didn’t want her back in the hospital.
We took her on a tour of all the available homes and she finally picked one, and within a couple of weeks she had a place to go. She thought she should be happy there.
Within nine days, she was gone.
The doctors were right and she even asked me how long I thought it would take her to be just like them. There was no conversation for her with those people and they took all her medications away, even aspirin and prescription lotions because they may get stolen. They stuck her in a double room with no room at all.
As Ms. Dyke said, they charged for everything, even the bingo games, which paid her 25 cents to win. Hair dressers, foot care and physio all had to be paid in advance.
My mom was horrified to find all this out. She barely had enough to pay the monthly cost for her keep. She also had to pay for her phone.
The day she passed on, she hadn’t even had a bath yet. The food was gross, and visitors had to pay if they stayed for a meal. Never mind that they threw away the leftovers.
There was no place to make coffee or get a snack and no pets for the people in this particular facility
As Ms. McKendricks said, ‘this is all thanks to Gordon Campbell,’ and she is not the only professional I’ve heard this statement from.
Health nurses, hospital nurses, and any health care providers and the general public all agree that Mr. Campbell and his party have no room for compassion in their dealings in this province.
Separating elderly couples from their facilities and sending them elsewhere to die alone was only the beginning of a nightmare in this province. Needless to say, his own mother was in one of the most expensive facilities available to spend her last days.
I guess you might say I am very bitter and sad that I had to watch my own mother suffer so in her last week of life. She was so sad and unhappy with her life.
I would say that we are going to have to make the right decisions on our choices of premiers this time around.
There needs to be three distinct categories for housing seniors, and the one middle level is completely missing for those who need the stimulation of being able to be somewhat independent with the help needed to survive.
For those faced with this dilemma, I’m sure you know what I mean by this. The seniors have been had. They gave us our freedom and sacrificed a lot for the following generation and are being hooped in their last years of life.
Those who vote for parties that show no compassion for our seniors should take a long look at themselves and estimate how they got where they are. They would probably know in their hearts that they gained by stepping on a lot of toes.
And seniors can’t even defend themselves from being mowed down. They are too sick, weak, confused, and defenceless.
We have to watch out for them. And that is not saying that they are not aware of the situation they are in. They are much smarter than a lot of us and know, much more through experience than a lot of us could even imagine.
They just may not have the stamina to defend themselves.
I’m hoping with a new or different government that this can all get back under control.
People are hungry, need housing, jobs, and better pay. We are in a big mess.
Well, I guess I’ve gotten some of what is bothering me out and hope we can all stick together and get those we pay for their duties to spend our money where it really counts.
Diana Briere
Maple Ridge