Canada should demand better

Before you complain about Alberta’s health care, spend a week in Saskatchewan.

Albertans spend a lot of time complaining about our health-care system. We criticize emergency room waits, physician shortages and overcrowded hospitals. Much of that criticism is justified.

But after spending the past week in Saskatchewan, I have a message for Albertans. Be thankful.

Like many families, ours has experienced the loss of loved ones. Both of my parents died in rural Alberta hospitals. Their care wasn’t always perfect, but one thing never failed us. When they needed a physician, one was available. When their condition changed, someone made decisions. When they needed pain relief, they received it.

That should be the standard in Canada, especially when it comes to end of life care.

Instead, I have spent the past week watching a family member receive palliative care in what I believe is a health-care system that is failing many of its most vulnerable patients.

While already in hospice, our family member developed both the flu and an infection. Although the infection was known, our family spent nearly two weeks watching his treatment shift between his part-time physician and the doctor on call at the hospital. It appeared to us that there was a lack of consistent medical oversight. Medications did not seem to be working together, and it was difficult to understand who was ultimately responsible for directing his care.

Then he lost the ability to swallow.

His pain medication remained in pill form until the following day, despite repeated requests for an injectable alternative. Sitting beside someone you love while they struggle in pain because they cannot swallow the medication being offered to abate the pain is something no family should ever have to experience.

What disturbed me even more was how little attention seemed to be given to him. 

There were long periods when no one checked on him. We repeatedly used the call bell and often waited what felt like hours before someone responded. During the most difficult moments, our family found ourselves advocating for what we believed were basic needs instead of simply spending precious time with someone we love.

We finally convinced a nurse to get a script for injectable pain medication. That was around 4 pm on a Thursday, still by Friday morning it had not been filled.

Now imagine watching a loved one suffer in obvious pain and getting no help. After repeated intervention with a nurse who told me she was too busy to look into his new pain management plan, I ended up going to the facility manager.  Most of you reading this probably understand how that went. Needless to say the manager drove to the pharmacy and filled the prescription. The staff ultimately cleaned him up, changed his clothes and gave enough pain medication so he could rest peacefully.

This is the system in Saskatchewan. I never had this experience in the Crowsnest Pass.Thank God for our hospital and staff and a nursing home attached to the facility. 

In the four days I was in that facility I never once saw a doctor and if there was one, they never came into that room and I was there for hours.

Whatever the reasons, whether physician shortages, staffing shortages or a system stretched beyond its limits, the outcome was the same.

The patient suffered. The family suffered. That is not what palliative care should look like.

Palliative care should be about comfort, dignity and compassion. It should not leave families wondering who is overseeing treatment, when pain will finally be addressed or how long it will take for someone to answer a call bell.

Our family member belongs to a generation that built this country. He worked hard, paid his taxes and contributed to his community. Like every Canadian senior, he deserves compassionate, timely and competent care in his final days.

So do the thousands of other Saskatchewan seniors who find themselves relying on the same system.

After this week, I have a completely different appreciation for Alberta’s health-care system.

Is Alberta perfect? Absolutely not.

We still have physician shortages. We still have long emergency waits. We still need to recruit more doctors and improve access to care, especially in rural communities.

But I have never had to wonder whether a loved one’s pain would be addressed. I have never had to question whether there was a physician available to make timely medical decisions. I have never left a hospital believing a member of my family deserved better simply because of the province they happened to live in.

My final thought is what is happening to those seniors in that facility and many other across Saskatchewan who don’t have someone like me to advocate for them? 

I should have been in that room celebrating a wonderful man I loved, not angry and upset that no one was taking care of someone who took care of me for over 30 years. I should not have to wander around a care centre looking for help. I shouldn’t have to drag the facility manager into our hospital room to finally get help.  It’s a disgrace to leave a family in that situation. 

Shame on Saskatchewan’s government for allowing its health-care system to reach this point.

A society can be judged by how it treats its seniors. If what I witnessed over the past week reflects the standard Saskatchewan is prepared to accept, then that standard is simply not good enough.

Its seniors deserve better.

Their families deserve better.

Canada should demand better.