Letters, Jan. 9

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This article was published 09/01/2024 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Time to listen to doctors, nurses

Re: Nurses asked to work extra shifts as illness, staff shortages overwhelm ERs (Dec. 20)

As a retired nurse who has worked in many areas of acute care including, the ER, pediatric ICU, neonatal ICU, and the OR, I know what makes a good doctor. Good doctors love what they do, they display humility, and they stay current with evolving medical issues. They do not ignore — instead they act on the concerns of other professionals. Our best doctors work tirelessly day and night on the front lines of acute care. They do not issue health-care directives from ivory towers.

Our hospitals in Manitoba are on the verge of collapse due to an overwhelming number of very sick patients with respiratory infections, mainly COVID-19.

Unlike in previous years, we no longer have mandatory mask mandates in health-care facilities, and our front-line health-care workers and patients no longer have adequate protection from airborne viruses like COVID. In the article, Darlene Jackson (president of the Manitoba Nurses Union), pleaded for the implementation of mask mandates in health-care settings to stem the tide of infections to our health-care workers. On the very same day the World Health Organization issued an advisory recommending universal masking in health-care facilities due to the rapid spread of the JN.1 COVID variant.

So why did our health minister state that mandatory mask use in health-care settings was off the table?

Studies indicate more than 50 per cent of COVID infections are spread by asymptomatic carriers. We also know COVID-19 is transmitted via aerosols that linger in the air for hours. So who are the “good doctors” that are advising our health minister?

Obviously, infection protection against an airborne virus involves more than just washing our hands. Without mask mandates, COVID-19 infections will remain out of control in our health-care settings, which will result in the further destruction of an already fragile health-care system that is on the brink of collapse.

Sylvie Trotter

Stonewall

I write to express my concern regarding the overwhelming pressure our hospitals are currently facing due to the surge in respiratory virus cases, impacting individuals of all ages. In particular, I would like to highlight the importance of comprehensive RSV vaccine coverage across all provinces.

It is evident that the strain on emergency rooms is a critical issue, with patients, both young and old , in need of prompt medical attention. The RSV vaccine, which can range from $250 to $300, plays a crucial role in preventing respiratory illnesses. However, the accessibility of this vaccine varies across provinces, contributing to the current health-care challenges.

By ensuring that every province covers the cost of RSV vaccine, we may alleviate the burden on our hospitals and health-care professionals. The proactive approach can potentially reduce the number of respiratory virus cases, creating a more manageable health-care environment.

It is my sincere hope that policymakers prioritize the implementation of widespread RSV vaccine coverage, recognizing its significant impact on public health and the strain it can alleviate from our health-care system.

Yog Rahi Gupta

Show us the savings

Re: Ruinous Tory ‘reforms’ left ERs on life-support in gravely ill hospitals (Jan. 5)

I’d still like to know exactly how much the Tories saved in health-care spending through the cuts and closures and creation of Shared Health and the results of the representation votes where the number of bargaining units were reduced across the sector. All of these initiatives were supposed to streamline services and save money.

Closing of the Mature Women’s Clinic and ER at Victoria General Hospital saved how much? Eliminating physiotherapy coverage for joint replacement therapies compared to lost productivity and extended recovery times saved how much? Shipping people out of province and out of country for procedures the system didn’t have the capacity for in Manitoba due to the cuts saved us how much?

And the closure of the quick-care clinics that diverted people away from the ERs saved how much?

Honestly, I think we would be better served, at least as a stopgap, to put quick-care clinics with nurse practitioners and other specialists in where the old ERs used to be. Clearly outline what sort of cases you can expect to receive care for at them to try and take pressure off of the current ERs.

As for finding out what was saved compared to the damage done, people might say the above exercise would be a waste of time and resources, but without a full accounting of the history of these blunders and mistakes we are destined to repeat them when the Tories get back in government and try to undo everything the NDP now has to try and undo.

And it’s not a cycle we can afford from a public responsibility or financial standpoint.

Brian Spencler

Winnipeg

Ease up on private nurses

Re: Float nurses offering relief to stressed health-care facilities (Jan. 8)

Once again, nurses’ union head Darlene Jackson is using agency nurses for target practice as she points her wagging finger at them.

Once again, she has revealed lopsided figures as to how much the government spends on nursing care. Once again, she has failed to reveal how much is spent on publicly funded nurses, what the difference is, and which is most cost-effective. I believe this secretiveness is because the publicly funded sector actually costs more.

Until this information is released, the public won’t know. Why the negativity towards the private nurses, many of whom work in both systems. Is it because Ms. Jackson has no control over them and they make an easy scapegoat for her to blame all the ills of the health-care system on?

Does she fear that if there are more non-unionized than unionized nurses in the province, she may lose her cushy job as Manitoba’s celebrity nurse and actually have to go back to the bedside?

Ariel Lee

Winnipeg

UN has its upside

Re: Conservatives and the crackpot wing (Think Tank, Jan. 6)

For all its warts, the United Nations has saved millions of lives through its inoculation and health programs, its mediation and peacekeeping services, and its promulgation of treaties and standards that have improved socioeconomic and human rights.

It has done so on a total budget (including all 40 specialized agencies) of US$60 billion, which is less than three per cent of the US$2 trillion that nations spend each year on armaments. Those who argue that Canada should withdraw from a worthless UN unfortunately play into the hands of political elites around the world intent on keeping the UN under-resourced and weak, so they retain their prerogatives to invade, bomb and torture with scoffing impunity.

And those signing the petition who oppose sustainable development goals are on the side of the haves who care less about the have-nots. The specious arguments about loss of liberty demonstrate John Kenneth Galbraith’s thesis, “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”

Larry Kazdan

Vancouver