Letters, March 22

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Wait times prove deadly

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Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/03/2023 (932 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Wait times prove deadly

Re: Death rate at HSC ER increases: officials try to determine why (March 15)

Perhaps it is time our health-care leaders acknowledged the clear link between excessive wait times in our emergency departments and increased mortality.

Numerous studies, in Canada and abroad, have demonstrated that admitted patients languishing in the emergency department waiting for hospital beds are associated with excess mortality.

The latest comes from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, which estimates 300-500 people are dying in the U.K. each week owing to unnecessary delay caused by emergency-department crowding. They found that for every 82 patients whose admission was delayed more than eight hours, one unnecessary death occurred. Since emergency-department wait times in Winnipeg are generally worse than in the U.K. — and have deteriorated markedly since 2019 — there is no reason to think the consequences here are any better.

It is all well and good to declare a single death in an emergency department hallway a “critical incident,” but the critical situation writ large is our health system, and the numbers are frightening.

It is high time our officials recognized publicly that emergency-department crowding is a major cause of death in Manitoba and acted more boldly to implement solutions.

Alecs Chochinov, MD

Winnipeg

Where’s the outrage?

Reading Girding for battle (March 11), I am disappointed at such effort being placed in discounting the efforts of hard-working people trying to improve our health-care system. Most people understand we have an aging population that is living longer — which requires additional medical and caregiver resources. COVID-19 added an enormous strain to our medical system. Manitoba showed itself as a forerunner in Canada dealing with the pandemic.

The Manitoba Nurses’ Union’s poster reads: “The state of health care is outrageous.”

Dr. Brent Roussin worked tirelessly during the pandemic and was instrumental in procuring and administrating the COVID vaccine. Is he outrageous? Dr. Joss Reimer worked to inform Manitobans during the pandemic. She was voted Humanitarian of the Year. Is she outrageous? Lanette Siragusa also worked during the pandemic and was integral at Winnipeg care homes. Is she outrageous? The many doctors and nurses working hard to maintain this unexpected and over-demanding need for health care. Are they outrageous?

Premier Heather Stefanson, Health Minister Audrey Gordon and the province’s medical team are looking at different ways to improve the system, removing red tape for foreign doctors and nurses to enter and fill the needed vacancies in our system. Looking at efficiencies in the system is important; just throwing money at the problem will not work unless you have an endless supply, which Manitoba does not.

So we have all these hard-working people trying to improve the system and then we have MNU president Darlene Jackson. Jackson works very hard to disable any initiatives that will improve the health-care system. Her “everything is no good campaign” cripples any efforts for improvement. I know of many nurses who are stressed because of Jackson’s anti-everything promotions. People who work to implement new programs know that the ideas, which could be brilliant, will only work with the co-operation of the team.

I am confused at how Jackson thinks she is improving the health system. Jackson should focus on her budding career in the NDP government, and not in derailing solid health-care initiatives that work for the good of Manitobans.

I believe Jackson has gone too far, and that it’s she who is “outrageous.”

Peter Kowalyk

Winnipeg

Province must do better

Since reading Dan Lett’s excellent opinion piece In Manitoba, Tory tax cuts help rich most (March 17), I keep thinking back to the number one billion. Our provincial government is constantly talking about all of the things we don’t have enough money to pay for, and yet it found almost $1 billion to cut taxes.

How many homes could $1 billion build so that our unhoused citizens don’t have to sleep in bus shelters? How many public bathrooms like Amoowigamig could be funded for 24 hours a day so that people don’t have to urinate and defecate on our streets? How many addictions treatment spots for the people who are dying every day of drug overdoses?

Poverty and the associated human suffering are not an inevitability, but rather a policy choice. By choosing to allocate money to tax cuts rather than much needed social supports, Stefanson’s government has made it clear they don’t care about the suffering and deaths of Manitoba’s most marginalized citizens.

Our province needs to do better.

Susan Cuvelier, MSc, MD, FRCPC

Winnipeg

Ministers responsible

Re: Auditor general’s request not part of the bargain (March 20)

I agree most heartily with professors Karine Levasseur and Andrea Rounce about the importance of political accountability in the Manitoba legislature’s standing committee process.

Manitoba may be the only province in Canada that requires each piece of new or amended legislation to go before one of the legislature’s 11 standing committees and undergo public scrutiny and comment. Any member of the public who wishes to offer their thoughts on a given piece of legislation can submit comments in writing or sign up to attend a standing committee hearing to have their say.

This right is fundamental and puts meaning to the view that democracy is maintained by “the people,” by citizens, not just politicians. Perhaps just as amazing, although it doesn’t happen often, standing committees sometimes amend legislation on the spot, based on presentations by individuals and groups. When this happens, hope for the democratic process seems more real.

And while the bureaucracy is responsible for drafting legislation, the ultimate responsibility for making sure it is needed, reasonable and appropriate lies with the minister. If there are flaws or unintended consequences embedded in legislation — think Bill 64 — the problem doesn’t rest with the civil servants who prepared the documents, but the people providing the oversight, meaning the minister and the government. If legislation drafted by civil servants is wanting, it is up to the minister to correct it before it is presented to the legislature.

One would expect an auditor general to make that clear in their comments.

Jerry Storie

Winnipeg

Not too late to boost funding

I am in complete agreement with the solution offered by Michel Durand-Wood in his op-ed piece Public washroom delivers financial return (March 18) to the funding of Amoowigamig.

Move the necessary funds to keep it open 24-7 from the widening of Kenaston and extending Chief Peguis Trail. It would be a worthwhile use of funds that represent a 0.018 per cent of the budget. Mayor Gillingham and councillors — it is not too late to ensure the most basic needs of people living in the downtown core are met.

Heather McLaren

Winnipeg

Oh, Canada

Re: Citizenship oath at the click of a mouse is designed to be a temporary fix: minister (March 18)

I was shocked and appalled to learn of Immigration Minister Sean Fraser’s idea of moving to take the Oath of Citizenship online with a click of a mouse!

As someone who took the oath in 1975, I remember every detail of the ceremony, from the swearing in and the RCMP in full regalia to the playing of O Canada. The beautiful room was packed with flags, family and friends and tears. It meant something to all of us present. There was even a small reception afterwards.

The “new Canadians” quoted in the article spoke from the heart. If there is a problem with a backlog, fix it in a way that doesn’t cheapen the special moment for thousands of us!

Carolynne Presser

Winnipeg

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