You can tell an election is in the air in Ontario. The hot air has carried on an easterly current all the way to Saskatchewan. Quick, get me a doctor! I can't breathe!
The Globe and Mail reported Aug. 28, "The [Ontario] Liberals are promising to bring back doctor house calls for seniors if elected in the Oct. 6 election.
"Health Minister Deb Matthews says the government is promising to spend $60 million annually for the program.
"It will allow family doctors, nurses, social workers and occupational therapists to visit seniors who may otherwise find it difficult to get to the care in their home."
I mentioned this to my wife, the long term nurse, whose immediate raspberry was soon followed by a "When pigs fly."
This week or next, one of us has to go to our doctor's office. The visit isn't a check up or for some infection. Nope, we get to pay to have our files transferred to another doctor's office, because not only has our up-till-now current doctor left town, but the whole clinic is closing its doors. I would gather thousands of people are now seeking a new doctor, hoping one of the already over-burdened doctors will have room for them.
Success will elude many, if not most. The result will be an upward spike in emergency room visits, because these people will have nowhere else to turn. The remaining doctors will be driven even harder. The vicious spiral of doctor burnout self perpetuates.
Estevan, like a large number of, if not all, Saskatchewan communities, is facing a serious doctor shortage. While recruitment efforts are trying hard, I don't know if they will ever catch up.
Every month it seems a small town in Saskatchewan is facing a doctor crisis. I've even seen highway signs that now can be easily changed to indicate a hospital not currently able to function on a full-time basis due to a doctor shortage.
So to hear Dalton McGinty is going to magically make physicians appear out of the ether with time to run around town to visit elderly patients, it seems he not only has a medical problem, he has a physics problem.
Specifically, matter. In this case, a doctor, cannot be in two places at once. Additionally, said matter, e.g. our doctor, cannot travel faster than the speed of light. This is especially true in a world with red-light cameras and photo radar.
As much as it would be grand to have a doctor with her black leather bag come knocking on granny's door, it is much, much more efficient to have granny go see the doctor in the office. Fast moving doctors see dozens of people in a day. Unless they have a Star Trek-style transporter, it is simply impossible to see that many people while performing house calls. Even if you did have a transporter, it's quicker to walk to the next examination room than to have Scotty warm up the transporter pad.
My diabetic specialist is in Edmonton. When I was in North Battleford, a four-hour drive to Edmonton was not a big deal. Now, it's a full three-day affair to get there by car, two if by flight. I've inquired about telemedicine, without much luck. Yet his specialized knowledge, for the 10 minutes I typically spend with him, is that important to me to make that effort. Trust me, I wish I had that transporter.
It's common for politicians to promise the moon in the heat of an election. However, in this case, McGuinty is going to have to make science fiction reality to have a hope of making it work.
Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net.
