It s a hard subject, but it s one that we re seeing constantly in the headlines: "Hospitals, they re overwhelmed, emergency rooms are overwhelmed, people can t get in, people are dying in the hallways." It s the same in every province, and it s across the country. And that s because of Canada s socialized healthcare monopoly system. Access to care in a timely manner is always going to be a problem until the entire system is reformed. In the meantime, though, there are things that can be done to ease the pressure in the hospitals without digging into and amending the Canada Health Act, things to do on the way to real reforms.
00:00:00.000And it's a hard subject, but it's one that we're seeing constantly, headlines saying, you know, the hospitals, they're overwhelmed, emergency rooms are overwhelmed, people can't get treatment, people can't get in, people are dying in the hallways.
00:00:13.860The hospitals and emergency rooms, they're overwhelmed, and it's across the country.
00:00:17.860And that's because of Canada's socialized healthcare monopoly system.
00:00:21.120Access to care in a timely manner is always going to be a problem until the entire system is reformed.
00:00:26.900In the meantime, though, there are things that can be done to ease the pressure in the hospitals without digging into and amending the Canada Health Act, things to do on the way to real reforms.
00:00:37.260Now, for myself, I've shared a bit of that on here.
00:00:39.400I've had a pretty rough year as far as the health of my family members go.
00:00:42.960And it's led to me having spent more time in hospital emergency rooms in one year than I've spent my entire life.
00:00:50.720At least it certainly gave me a perspective on things, though.
00:00:53.160And in multiple hospitals, the emergency rooms all look the same.
00:00:56.200They're overcrowded with suffering people, while exhausted, harried staff try to keep up.
00:01:01.740I was at the Foothills Hospital last month.
00:01:03.400It's a Calgary one, and it's huge, because an elderly family member had had a stroke.
00:01:07.640And the scene was like something from the movies.
00:01:09.580The waiting area was packed with people in the emergency area.
00:01:13.020And once you got into the treatment area, there were literally people suffering and lined up on gurneys in the hallways waiting for help.
00:01:20.060It's what you'd expect to see after a major disaster or something, but this was just a typical afternoon.
00:01:24.440And to take some of the pressure from those hospitals, we have to start identifying who really needs to be there and who doesn't.
00:01:31.760Because Canada's system packs so many services into hospitals, they become overwhelmed because they're trying to be everything to everybody, rather than the acute care centers they're supposed to be.
00:01:41.500I want to start with mental health services.
00:01:42.940They have to be decoupled from general hospitals.
00:01:46.580I mean, due to decades of the misplaced movement of deinstitutionalization, we have thousands of people who should be receiving long-term mental health care, and they're on the streets quite often.
00:01:56.400They're in no condition to manage themselves in this naive community living system we've set up.
00:02:01.380And they either end up in the streets, in jail, dead, or in hospitals.
00:02:05.160If somebody needs mental health treatment, I mean, if you haven't had to encounter it, you never really think of it until the time comes.
00:02:11.120But if you hit a crisis, what happens?
00:02:13.220Well, hospitals, they're the only entry point for mental health care.
00:02:17.300So if somebody's had a mental health, you know, a breakdown or an episode, they're forced to head to an emergency room to await help.
00:02:22.580That's assuming somebody will take them there.
00:02:24.300Last year, my father had a mental collapse.
00:02:27.060He was paranoid, delusional, prone to wandering.
00:03:26.740And it's not that the doctors are heartless.
00:03:28.340They just have nowhere else to put people.
00:03:30.420It's unfair, expensive, and ineffective pushing psychiatric patients through general hospitals.
00:03:35.600The doctor who can set a broken arm likely isn't well-trained to deal with a schizophrenic, but that's what they're tasked with.
00:03:41.600For people awaiting care for injuries, it's not pleasant spending hours in a waiting room with a person who's melting down with a bipolar disorder.
00:03:47.660An emergency room setting, of course, isn't very comfortable for a person suffering from a mental health issue either.
00:03:52.660We need mental health facilities separate from general hospitals, both for the intake and the long-term care.
00:03:58.940Yes, we need to expand our psychiatric institutions rather than closing them as we have been.
00:04:03.600And I know we don't like to think of having people confined, but I assure you it's more humane than having them in jail, homeless shelters, or in the general hospitals.
00:04:12.200And, of course, it's going to take pressure away from those emergency rooms.
00:04:15.340Likewise, we need fast and separate inpatient care for addicts.
00:04:18.580They're showing up in emergency rooms, and they can't be effectively treated there, but they don't know where else to go.
00:04:24.120Hospitals are often being used as well as nursing homes when seniors without family advocates find themselves in need of care but hadn't planned for long-term care homes.
00:04:32.520It's a very expensive and unpleasant way for a senior to spend their final years.
00:04:36.540And then, again, we can look into things.
00:04:38.040Expand options for practical nurses and general practitioners so we can reduce these emergency room loads.
00:04:42.820Many people with minor ailments head to the emergency rooms when they can be better treated elsewhere, but they don't necessarily know where to go.
00:04:49.320Creating new facilities and options, it sounds expensive, but let's not pretend we aren't already paying for it.
00:04:54.120The addicted, the mentally unsound, they're already in our facilities, but they aren't getting the best treatment we could.
00:04:59.480Dedicated long-term facilities can house and treat people with mental health, addiction, and age-related issues much more effectively and at a lower cost than general hospitals can.
00:05:08.700We don't need to reinvent the wheel to take the pressure from our emergency rooms.
00:05:12.320We just need to rethink the centralized model that packs everybody into one place for treatment.