I was very sick when I arrived back in Golden. I had excellent care from a friend who escorted me to my family doctor which proved to be satisfactory since my file was still in Vancouver. However, the next day I had to have emergency treatment in the hospital and there, a young doctor put my life in his hands immediately, and I survived a head trauma, along with other sicknesses. The follow up visits I must do with my regular doctor are reassuring and now I am able to live for another day.
I share this with you because I never realized the quality of care that the Golden medical profession has offered me the years I lived here. Perhaps I took it for granted? I lived for two years in Burnaby and Vancouver and may I share with you what it is like trying to find a doctor in the city.
I lived on a street near Kingsway and there are six walk in clinics. I needed meds filled, a checkup, and various other duties doctors perform. The clinics are full of people from all walks of life. I was at the end of the line and waited two hours for the receptionist. She politely said they were not taking amy more people that day, but I could try the other clinics. Each clinic takes only fifty people, leaving many waiting. I was told that I cannot see a doctor until I had a family doctor. I had to go to the internet to check if any doctors were taking new patients. None were for at least three years. How do I see a doctor? Well, each morning the clinics open at ten, so I would arrive at eight like so many others and stand in line. I did that each time in need of a doctor and never once, did I see the same one. They are overbooked and busy, and sometimes they don’t even look up to see who you are, and no doubt they too, are fed up with the patient load.
During my times waiting for the doctor I would be thinking of the Golden doctors, and how compassionate the staff is here. The Golden medical clinic has no doubt humanity in its entire glorification, simply because they still take the time to care. In the city for the most part, that humanity is swallowed up in the mass of over population, the lack of proper leadership, facilities that are outdated and a system that has proven total failure for both patient and doctor. I endured it, and hopefully, won’t have to again.
In the city when my head started to hurt really badly, I was rushed to one of the major hospitals emergency wards. I really wasn’t aware of all the people there until later. The nurses rushed me ahead of everyone, which caused commotion with some patients, and security settled them down. But with the head, they were afraid of meningitis. The scanner did not show anything so I was given Tylenol #3 and sent to the back of the line or home. I sat for an hour and did not see anyone being tended to and went home knowing my trip up here was near at hand.
I know there still are towns that honour the medical profession and I shall always seek them out rather than the city. I also know my stay in Golden will be comforting knowing the staff; doctors and nurses who tend to our medical needs are the best. They deserve all the respect we as patients can give them and in my view, if we don’t do that we may end up standing in line.
Mary Stevenson
Golden
