I am writing in response to Leo Paré’s May 17th Advocate column: Whose illness matters?
A wait in the emergency room is never a fun experience and frustration with wait-times is something many Albertans can rally behind.
However, and I cannot stress this enough, emergency room staff treat people based on severity of illness and injury.
These health-care professionals who are dealing with Leo Paré’s so-called “drunks and idiots” do not have the privilege of making judgment calls based on how a person sustains an injury; these calls are made on how life-threatening the injury or illness is.
The emergency room staff is doing the best they can, with the available resources, in the situation they are placed in.
So let’s just cut them a little slack, huh?
If you’re upset with the system, blame the system … not the people working 24/7 to try and help you.
And I can only speak for myself, but when I’m sick and contemplating going to the emergency room, I call Health Link Alberta toll-free at 1-866-408-5465 (LINK) and they do an amazing job at pointing me in the right direction.
George Shaw
Red Deer