Commenter’s Cafe

These are the experiences of our commenters which we feel are valuable to share. We post them here with no edits within quotes.

Saturday night, I had found a tic latched onto a leg. I managed to remove it with a nail clipper. It looked like a dog or brown tic, so did not fear Lyme disease which is spread by dear tics. By Monday evening I had swelling and redness, so decided I must have it attended to. At about 9 PM, phoned Cobequid Community Health Centre, and found out that they were open til midnight. So off I drive to the place. I donned a face shield while entering, and this was not challenged, though I was asked if I was not able to wear a mask. At least a face shield is quite well ventilated and does not shed harmful synthetic fibres to get lodged in my lungs.

The Receptionist rattled off the usual COVID questions. After a few minutes wait, I was told by the triage nurse that they were at capacity, and would only accept life threatening cases. I asked about info that I’d heard that pharmacists were able to prescribe the antibiotic that is used as a counter to Lyme. She was kind enough to confirm this, and told me of a pharmacy that was open to midnight. So off I drive to the Sackville Shoppers Drug Mart. The Pharmacist was helpful with advice. Can’t praise her enough. She had a look at the wound and at the tic that I’d save in a bottle. She said that it was a dog tic and not a deer tic, so what I was suffering was not Lyme, but an infection called cellulitus due to the bite. She said that she could not give an antibiotic prescription for this, and that the antibiotic for Lyme would not be needed. Also advised that I should see a Doctor about the cellulitis. Cellulitis left untreated can become very serious.
So off I go to Dartmouth General. The security guard asked to see proof of vaccination, which I refused. But he allowed me to go inside. The receptionist asked the usual battery of COVID questions. When asked if I had been vaccinated, I said yes. Then she got more specific, was I vaccinated for COVID? When asked if I’d had COVID, I had to reply, ‘Unconfirmed’. Having had a cold and flu like ailment months before, I did not know if it was COVID, flu, or a cold. She immediately said that I refused to answer, quite a presumptive statement. I had to correct her that I had been ill, but was unsure if it was COVID.
I waited and waited. There were about 8 others around me in chairs in the Plexiglas cells which were open on their fronts. I could not help but wonder for what purpose they had been constructed. I had walked into the building through open rooms possibly exhaling COVID virus as I strode. But how were these open Plexiglas cells going to keep exhaled respiratory viruses form circulating throughout the room? I wondered similarly about the Plexiglas screen in front of the reception desk. Curiously, the security guard stations lacked plexiglas screens. I too noticed the ‘COVID chair’ set aside near the entry door for COVID patients. It remained empty during my entire wait. Guess that there is not a clamour of new COVID patients overwhelming the hospital.
So I waited and waited as other around me gradually trickled in through the next door to see a Doctor in the inner sanctum. I grew more and more tired in the hard plastic ill designed chair. It was very sore on the body. I had to walk about many times to relieve the chair induced pain. You would have to try very hard to design a chair that would be more uncomfortable. They would be quite distracting to diagnosis of a musculoskeletal disorder, as it would be impossible to distinguish from chair induced pain and pain from an actual ailment. Persons already suffering pain would likely have it worsened.

A security guard dutifully kept a watch from his desk by the inner sanctum door. But then he disappeared for quite a long time, well over an hour. I was quite concerned that the abode of the physicians and nurses would be invaded by impatient patients. Perhaps I would be witness to another January 6 like event right here at Dartmouth General. Thankfully, marauding armed right wing extremists never appeared. Everyone who had been waiting patiently continued to wait. After all this is Canada. The worst thing that Canadians have ever done en mass was to park some trucks in front of parliament, play street hockey, and let the kids bounce on air castles. Can’t get more violent than that.
Eventually, I was called in by a nurse who showed me to a room equipped with a gurney type hospital bed. Great, I was able to lie down after having suffered the excruciating chair for hours. I awoke perhaps a half hour later to the Doctor. I showed her the tic wound and explained the time I’d found the tic, and how I had removed the it. She seemed only mildly interested. Suppose this was only the latest of hundreds of these that she had dealt with, and I presume that she was quite rushed to get to the other people behind me. She refused to look at the tic specimen that I had dutifully brought in a pill bottle. Said that they do not send them to a lab any more. So she left the room. Moments later, a nurse appeared with two antibiotic tablets instructing me to take one and take the other in 12 hours. She left, and moments later returned with a prescription note, telling me that I was free to leave. On the way out I thanked the staff at the station desk. I had entered the hospital about 11 PM, and got out at about 6 AM. I’d had to wait over 6 hours to see a Doctor who spent about 10 minutes.
I’m satisfied that the staff did a great job under the conditions. But I see that the system is woefully inadequate. I had no choice but to use the hospital emergency. Getting an appointment with my GP would have taken weeks, by which time I might have gone past the point of simple treatment for disabling Lyme disease and become a very huge burden on the health care system. Getting immediate treatment with the antibiotic used against Lyme is important. So I dared not wait even another day to get to a walk in clinic.
Should not hospital emergency departments be reserved for ailments and injuries of more urgently threatening and more complex nature? And should there not be clinics open 24 hours every day for urgent, but not immediately life threatening cases? The walk in clinics scattered about are only open days. Keeping a few open for 24 hours or even for 16 hours would certainly help free up hospital emergency departments, and at lower cost. The overhead cost of a hospital emergency department must be many times higher than for a small clinic that has a smaller staff and offers basic services for simpler cases. It seems that much of the wait time and pressure on staff could be easily resolved by simple low cost reorganization of resources.
Why are the staff so concerned about COVID? Health Canada COVID Statistics May 8, 2022:
‘Fully vaccinated’ + ‘Fully vaccinated with an additional dose’ = 48.4% of reported cases.
‘Unvaccinated’ = 44.8% of reported cases.
Statistically, jabbed people have greater odds of contracting COVID than nonjabbed.
Clearly, the best way to avoid becoming infected with COVID is to not get the jab.
This data disproves any need of the entire vax scheme.

If a patient walks in with no symptoms, why is the vax pass asked for? Patients are processed and treated the same regardless of vax status and COVID history. Why was money spent to outfit the hospital with Plexiglas dividers and screens which really offer no protection from airborne germs? Do we really need to pay a security guard to keep watch on the doorway? What is the cause of such outrageous delay time? Why are we short staffed with huge numbers of health care workers fired or suspended for refusing a needless and unproven injection?

Why?

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