I feel an overwhelming sadness that no changes will be made to aging Edmonton-area hospitals because no individuals and no governments want to put the taxpaying dollars into fixing them. I imagine they will never find the taxpaying dollars for this task.
Recently, I visited patients in two Edmonton hospitals: The Cross Cancer Institute and the Misericordia Hospital. My distress is not for the care of the patients. It’s the care of the hospitals themselves that concerns me. Both buildings need a lot of TLC.
On a Sunday afternoon, the front foyer of the Misericordia seems dreary. A valiant group of volunteers sells blankets and baby hats but no matter how many things they crochet, they will never tie all the ends together. Caring, fundraising auxiliary members, who love a hospital facility, cannot do enough.
Our patient is in a room with three other gentlemen. He has nerve damage pain in his back. He has one pillow but it is inadequate. He needs at least one more pillow to support his back.
“You need another pillow,” I say, sensibly.
“I asked, but they said they don’t have any pillows,” he says.
“How silly,” I think. ‘Of course they have pillows!”
Off I go in search of a pillow. One pillow would help. Two would be better. Three would add enormous comfort, but my patient is right. Nurses consult and say they have no pillows to spare. Staff members check three closets. No pillows!
“I’ll see what I can do,” one says finally as she heads down the stairs to another floor.
Finally she comes back with one pillow! “Here you go!” she says with a flourish! I have a vision of some poor unconscious chap on another floor, who had the pillow stolen from under his head. In the end, I go across the street to the mall and purchase pillows.
The pillows are a symbol of something larger happening in our hospitals. We are being stingy with money here. Maybe there is no tax money for hospitals. But there should be.
Now to the dingy old Cross Cancer Institute, which appears at first glance as if the only thing fresh on those hospital walls is the art provided by cancer patients or their donating families.
We raise millions for cancer care and research in this province, but as a caring population, we need to give back to the hospitals. If there aren’t enough tax dollars to go around, then we must find the means elsewhere. Knitting doilies and selling books just doesn’t cut it anymore. Running marathons and playing in hockey tournaments for cancer care is a strong and caring community focus, but how about the hospitals? Who is running a marathon to look after those buildings?
Alberta Lottery Fund dispersed $1.486 billion last year. Of that, $757.6 million went to Health Services, for “Community and Population Services.” How much of that lottery money goes to hospital infrastructure?
I know we need to fundraise for high-tech equipment but must the care be given in buildings that look as if they haven’t had a facelift in 40 years?
We need to quit blaming the government of the day for the inability to squeeze out yet another tax dollar. Why don’t we have an affordable “hospital infrastructure lottery” or a marathon for hospital building? If we can raise funds for sports and recreation and all the other things outlined on the Alberta Lottery Fund Website, why can we not raise some billions just for building hospitals?
Susan Jones is a staff writer for the Gazette.
