Canadian Health Care Information

I used to be an idealist (one who is guided more by ideals than by practical considerations) and an ideologue (an often blindly partisan advocate or adherent of a particular ideology). You see, I used to believe that our healthcare system was providing good care and reasonable access to those who needed it. I am a nurse, so I should know, right? But a few years ago, I attended a house party, and at that party, I learned something what would rattle, uproot and finally demolish my beliefs about the healthcare system.

Follow up:

The unlikely source of the information was a fellow in his fifties, softly bearded with the permanent beginnings of a wry smile in his brown eyes. He looked like an accountant or a lawyer. But he called himself a medical broker.

Is spite of being comfortable with all things medical, I had to ask, “What’s a medical broker?”

“Well”, he started, “I make it possible for Canadians to get their necessary medical care in top notch American health care organizations. And they get it immediately.”

“But”, I stammered, “American health care is so expensive. Your clients must all be very rich or very impatient”.

“On the contrary”, he said, and he began to tell me real life stories of ordinary Canadians who had to leave Canada to get health care. Their stories were truly shocking; the kind that you could not accept without proof. “Who are these people?” I demanded, “Can I talk to them?” Willingly, this medical broker introduced me to some of these ordinary (and extraordinary) Canadians.

Since then, I have been finding and interviewing many such people. These are the Canadians who are waiting for medically necessary healthcare or who have been forced to leave the wait lists and find their own solutions in the private domain. I have come to call them medical refugees. Like refugees, they are involuntary and innocent bystanders in a larger system over which they have no control. Like refugees, they have to leave the comfort of their home and family to do what is necessary to survive. They are loggers and lawyers; business owners and bed and breakfast hosts. They hail from Labrador to Vancouver Island. Generously, they share with me their stories - tender, shocking, funny, brutal but most of all, real.

Having learned of these realities for so many Canadians, I knew that I had to do something. I decided to try and bring about some positive change. As a healthcare professional, I saw it as my duty. As a caring human being, I viewed it as my moral responsibility. In my mind, two things had to be done. The first one was to raise the level of awareness about the actual state of our healthcare system. I’ve started on this by chronicling the medical stories of Canadians. The second one was to somehow assist those who were being forced to find their own care. They would need all kinds of information. Also, they would benefit from hearing about the experiences of others in a similar situation. For both jobs, a website could fill the bill, and so, I designed and launched this website. It has two purposes. The first one is to help those who are seeking medically necessary healthcare. The second one is to elicit more real life stories. These chronicles will be used for documentation, research, sharing, and learning. Please share your story with me here.

Now I am a practicologue. It’s my own made up word. It is the opposite of an ideologue. A practicologue is someone who is guided by reality; by the practical, the real, the workable. I have listened to those who are waiting and suffering. I have seen their eyes and felt the hurting hearts of their loved ones. I have had revealed to me how the private sector is rescuing people; stopping the suffering; returning lives. I think that we have a moral and ethical obligation to acknowledge the current realities of our healthcare system and to change it for the better. Until we fix our healthcare, I think that the private sector can help.

© Janet Walker