Orphan patients want answers from Dix
After 72 years of having a family physician I am now an “orphan patient” with the thousands of others in British Columbia due to the fact that my ex-family doctor has taken a new direction in health care.
My visits to his practice were every three months simply to reorder the few medications I am presently on as thankfully my health status is stable. My question to Health Minister Adrian Dix as well as the College of Physicians and Surgeons is this: Why are our very qualified pharmacists in B.C. prevented from reordering for stable patients?
This would allow those who are managing orphan patients in walk-in clinics more time for those with complex medical issues. Using pharmacists would decrease the present unsustainable workload of physicians and allow more time with those patients who have challenging medical issues thus preventing a medical crisis.
Not having enough family practice physicians or nurse practitioners, to me, is “patient neglect.”
Not being able to provide consistent care nor follow-ups due to the physician changes in walk-in clinics causes orphan patients not to seek early intervention due to the waiting periods in walk-in clinics.
All of the physicians and nurse practitioners in walk-in clinics need to be commended, yet my question remains: Why are pharmacists being restricted from full practice when it could be a win-win situation for all ?
Health Minister Dix, we as orphan patients require a reply from you on this matter.
Wendy Campbell
Saanich
Church mergers make sense
Re: “Island churches’ urge to merge,” Jan. 5.
I was pleased to see a news item pertaining to church.
I recently wandered into a progressive United Church in the West Shore after the disaffection of almost four decades attending non-progressive faiths where women were not given equal opportunity, diversity was a dirty word and scripture was worshipped more than the Creator.
Mergers happen all the time, why not churches?
Doug Lloyd
Colwood
Social justice? Not really.
Re: “People power is needed to expand fare-free public transit,” comment, Jan. 7
George Orwell must be turning in his grave at the sly euphemisms of Victoria Coun. Ben Isitt’s piece.
In Isitt-speak, taxing other citizens and giving the proceeds to youth for free bus passes, some of whom come from middle- and upper-class families, becomes “city council removed user-fee barriers to public transit ridership as a form of climate action and social justice.”
Taking money from citizens elsewhere in the province to give it to regional Victoria youth becomes “can be expedited, and the impact on local taxpayers substantially reduced, with support from the provincial government.”
Isitt’s careful use of words designed to hide the topics under discussion is really a species of insult to the rest of us. It is quite remarkable how a public figure can, without a sense of shame, repeat this humbug, paragraph after paragraph.
Handing other people’s money to the children of the rich has nothing to do with social justice or with climate change, but rather serves only to confirm Isitt’s vanity.
Here is a challenge for all of us to consider, and which Isitt ignores and deliberately obscures: What policies and expenditures of our tax dollars would actually improve social justice? Let us all have that discussion, in plain English.
Anthony Roy
Victoria
No free lunch, and no free transit
Re: “People power is needed to expand fare-free public transit,” comment, Jan. 7.
With the reiterative use of the phrase “fare-free public transit” (five times), the author spares no effort to ensure the reader understands his recommended removal of a “user-fee barrier to public transit ridership”.
It’s clearly past time for the writer, and his supporters to review, no, better yet, study, the long-standing adage “There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.” That was true when it was first extensively used in the 1930s. The only difference in the 2020s is higher cost.
Without substantive detailed costing studies of any free ridership programs anywhere in the Capital Regional District, all such proposals belong on the back burner until the local tax-paying citizens can rule on such initiatives (and on any associated proposing candidates) in the next local election.
Ron Johnson
Saanich
Chard proposal would help Old Town
I write in support of Chard Development’s proposal for a boutique hotel at 1314-1324 Broad St. I own a 90-year-old family business in Old Town and feel this development will be a benefit to an area that desperately needs revitalization.
Our small business, Robinson’s Outdoor Store, has been an anchor in Old Town and has been in its current location since 1946.
Our small business has experienced the decline of Old Town first-hand. We had a major break-in on Saturday, Dec. 21. The result was expenses to our business well into the tens of thousands of dollars.
By not authorizing increased policing as requested, the City of Victoria has also left shopkeepers vulnerable to this type of crime.
When the city had more beat cops and more police officers, we could expect better help for our marginalized people and better responses when events such as break-ins occurred.
By delaying the construction of the hotel, the city is prolonging the opportunity of Broad Street merchants to have a more vibrant street. We have the chance for an excellent developer to build a boutique hotel with retail merchants on the ground floor.
The mix of visitors and small business is recipe for growth and promotes the type of sustainable tourism Victoria wishes to attract.
Gayle Robinson
Robinson’s Outdoor Store
Victoria
Hold your loved ones close
Re: “Mental hospital should be an option,” letter, Dec. 31.
De-institutionalization has not failed. We still have a place to house the seriously mentally ill population. It’s called Seven Oaks in Victoria. There are various houses to accommodate different needs.
Also, group homes may be in your own neighbourhood that let people live a normal life, within their means. They grow and change with the support of their case management team.
Years ago when the government dissolved institutions, it was for mainly to save money.
Mental-health professionals took on a new policy, to use psychosocial rehabilitation.
This policy gave people hope and let them live as independently as possible. Not to say there are no fails. But mentally ill people are followed and kept safe. Some clients resist because of structure and a lack of insight into their disease.
My take is, please hold your loved ones close; if you see any change or peculiarities, stay in there with them. Early diagnosis and medications can change this back to a better life.
Being mentally ill is exhausting; please don’t think less of their illnesses.
Anne Marie Wade
Saanich
Help Australia rebuild with B.C. lumber
British Columbia might be in a unique position to help Australia rebuild after its devastating fires are put out, and in doing so help ourselves.
A fund would need to be set up in B.C. to purchase building materials such as lumber and plywood to feed the building boom that is sure to start in Australia as they recover from the fires.
Such a fund would help our ailing forestry and mill workers during this most difficult time here in B.C. At the same time the goodwill and aid to the Australians would create a bond and a market for our lumber.
This would be a win-win situation.
Imagine the effect of several cargo ships, fully loaded with British Columbia building supplies, showing up three months from now in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.
Nicholas Newell
Duncan
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