The Neurology Dept. at Victoria Gen Hosp, Victoria, BC

[Starving Steve]

I have given my story to CBC News "Go Public" at gopublic@cbc.ca . What is happening on Vancouver Island is an outrage; i.e, senior citizens being run out of their own homes and being dumped into the Neurology floor of Victoria General Hospital. And what happened to me there was an outrage. Not only that, I saw the death of a woman who begged for help, and no-one there would help her.

Kathy Tomlinson and Enza Uda run "Go Public" at CBC News in Victoria.

I am Starving Steve ( Stephen Jacobs ) in California, a Canadian citizen, no less. Ask me about the torture there in the Emergency Unit, outside of the Emergency Room at Victoria General Hospital. Ask me about prescriptions that my doctor was writing for me, and what another doctor, here in California said about those prescriptions. Ask me about the RCMP in Sooke and their remarks to me. Ask me about the Motor Vehicles Dept. in B.C. revoking my driving license for health reasons, and with a perfect driving record, no less. Ask me about not being able to get food without a car. Ask me about the "certification papers" that were written for me.

I have been forced to sell my house because I can not get food without a car. I have given my life to Canada, and here is how my retirement in B.C. Canada has turned-out.

Ask me about my roomates on the Neurology floor at Victoria General Hospital. Ask me about what my doctor here at Kaiser Hospital in San Jose, Calif. said about the prescription that I was given: "If a doctor had written a prescription like that here in California, he would have lost his medical license and be in jail." ( Dr. Caroline Perry, Kaiser Hospital ).

Starving Steve, (Stephen Jacobs) 1-831-726-3422 at my brother's house in Calif. until this matter is settled.

[lektrode]

Re: The Neurology Dept. at Victoria Gen Hosp, Victoria, BC

with all due respect, mr steve...

ya didnt tell em how you've been heating yer house with plutonium, did ya?

;)

sorry... its been a loooong day.

[Adeptus]

Re: The Neurology Dept. at Victoria Gen Hosp, Victoria, BC

Take good care Stephen... from a fellow Victoria resident.
I can't speak for the Neurology Dept @ the hospital, but the lengthy waits at the Emergency have been the joke (or the sad story) of the town for over a decade.

The Canadian health system - it's not all good.

My best wishes to your prompt recovery!
:-)

[Starving Steve]

Re: The Neurology Dept. at Victoria Gen Hosp, Victoria, BC

Take good care Stephen... from a fellow Victoria resident.
I can't speak for the Neurology Dept @ the hospital, but the lengthy waits at the Emergency have been the joke (or the sad story) of the town for over a decade.

The Canadian health system - it's not all good.

My best wishes to your prompt recovery!

:-)

One of the really big issues in Victoria is that people can not get doctors to take care of them. There is a shortage of trained doctors to take patients for just general illnesses or for general check-ups or for referrals to other doctors.

Fair to say that Victoria General Hospital has terrific brain (or skull) surgery doctors. The doctors there saved my life..... But the rest of the neurology bunch in that hospital are pathetic.

The only other comment that I have about Victoria General is that they have parking meters outside of their Emergency Room.
Sad to say that if you would have a serious emergency such as a heart attack, your car would be tagged and towed away.

[Starving Steve]

Re: The Neurology Dept. at Victoria Gen Hosp, Victoria, BC

One more really important point to make in this economics discussion: With all of the money that government is collecting through taxes in Canada, especially through taxes in British Columbia, why is there not enough doctors to serve the needs of patients in Victoria? Isn't this a clear violation of the Canada Medicare Act?

Let's go over some of the taxation and revenue stream to governmentssssssss in Canada, especially in British Columbia: a.) harmonized taxes; b.) carbon taxes; c.) gas taxes; d.) goods and services taxes; e.) BC income tax; f.) provincial sales tax; g.) absolutely outrageous fairy fees to cross the Strait of Georgia; h.) duties; i.) property taxes; j.) parking meters, including the new solar-powered parking meters; h.) outrageous water rates for districts such as the CRD in and around Victoria; i.) bus fares; j.) airport departure taxes; k.) federal income tax; l.) real estate transaction and land-titles fees; m.) billing to the public for crown corporations such as BC Hydro; n.) vehicle licensing fees; o.) fines, especially for violating horse-'n-buggy speed limits in BC; on and on and on....

But the point is: Where is all of this money going? Might I ask: Into who's pockets? Which layer of government is dolling-out fat civil servant compensation and benefit packages? And why?

And in Victoria, British Columbia, we don't even have enough doctors to provide for the daily needs of the public. Why? A clear violation of the Canada Medicare Act, and why is that continuing?

[lakedaemonian]

Re: The Neurology Dept. at Victoria Gen Hosp, Victoria, BC

On a related topic of healthcare and healthcare access.....I wonder if/when we will see a strong uptake in mid-level primary care?

By that I mean a wider acceptance of Physician Assistant/Nurse Practitioner positions to fill a greater portion of the primary care space.

We've seen it down here in NZ with midwives......who have pretty much taken over easily 90%+ of the non complications births in NZ.....our 2nd child was the LAST child delivered(non emergency) of our OBGYN who has moved onto greener IVF specialization....about the only way to get an OBGYN here anymore is if you have known complications.

Our 1st child and possibly my wife would have died had I not intervened when our midwive was CLEARLY in over her head and failed to escalate and request OBGYN assistance.

I see the midwife example down here much the same as the supermarket example of keeping the price the same but shrinking the quantity/quality of the produce.

While I don't think the cuban health care model works for the US and the west.....I am quite surprised there hasn't been an effort to mass produce physician assistant/nurse practitioners to focus on primary care.....while I can see the loss of quality downside(in complex primary care).....I can also see a possible accessibility and affordability upside.

I'd even consider hanging up my entrepreneurial spurs and shifting into a career change into mid level primary care....and create a McDonald's of basic primary care.

With the advent of technology/telemedicine there's no reason why basic accessible primary care should be so expensive(assuming bureaucracy is simplified and all the rest of the impediments are killed with fire).

Our local family doctor/medical practice actually does a decent job of moving towards a "McDonald's Model"...by which I mean a focus on system efficiency in the back office to maximize patient face time with frontline healthcare...I don't see MUCH to improve from a layman's perspective...but they are the exception...hence why we use them.

I wish you the best Steve.

[globaleconomicollaps]

Re: The Neurology Dept. at Victoria Gen Hosp, Victoria, BC

Steve, I like you. You strike me as a straight shooter who speaks from the heart and you defend your point of view with terrific skill. I was going to suggest that this be moved to rant and rave and then I thought for a minute. This is exactly the kind of thing that belongs in news. You are reporting on a historic shift in society and institutions "live" from the front lines, as it happens. You are making the news. Bravo. Keep up the good work.

[Starving Steve]

Re: The Neurology Dept. at Victoria Gen Hosp, Victoria, BC

Thank you both above.

I have to be fair to Victoria General Hospital and the Govn't of B.C. In my case, they did connect me to a wonderful hospital out-patient service which came to my home daily. The service baby-sat me to make certain that I was taking my pills on-time and taking my correct pills in correct dosage on-time. The service also made certain that I was still alive, and that I hadn't fallen-off a ladder or hit my head upon a beam during the day, etc.... Easy stuff for a hospital outrage service to do and yet very very important. The service saved the Province a fortune in medical care for me because I was in my own home and not in the hospital. And the service created jobs for nurses and gave them ideal training experience, too.

As it turned out, one of the out-reach workers lived in my neighbourhood, just a short walk from my house. Meeting him was fun. We would sit at night and discuss East Germany, as it was before, and as it is now in a re-unified new Germany. Or we would sit and discuss politics, the health-care crisis in BC, my experience at the hospital, the eco-frauds, solutions to the energy crisis, solutions to saving energy in the home, atomic energy, the bears that meander in the neighbourhood in East Sooke, bus service to East Sooke, our family histories, Stalin, what happened in Europe when Stalin died, the Berlin Wall, gold, why we moved to Canada, and topics/things of that nature.... Fun! And this talking ( just meeting another person ) provided for good mental health, too. We would sit and have coffee and eat a bite of 80%-cocoa Belgian chocolate --- a (secret) treat that he learned to appreciate in Europe.