Editor:
An open letter to Cariboo Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett, MP Todd Doherty and Prime Minister Trudeau
I am a 64 year old registered nurse who today had my second hip replacement cancelled at the last minute due to a complete breakdown of the suction and ventilation systems in Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops B.C.
Had it happened when I was halfway through my surgery it would have been a life-threatening situation.
My airway couldn’t have been cleared nor blood cleared if I was bleeding.
Thanks to my surgeon who waited as hopefully as I did that the systems could be repaired in time and the Director of Patient Care who provided me with a way home to 150 Mile House when it couldn’t, this critical event did not happen.
My sincere thanks to them both for these decisions.
Now, here is my rant.
1.) Where were the backup systems?
2.) What is the reason, and I quote, my surgeon stood there and told me 14 of his other patients had their surgeries cancelled before me due to over booking and lack of beds.
3.) As a retired senior, who has both worked and paid into the healthcare system for 30 years, what is happening to it?
I want solutions not excuses to get action on this.
I’m a grandmother who can’t visit her grandchildren in New Zealand until I get a new hip. My six-year-old granddaughter and three-year-old grandson are growing up without me and time is running out as it is for the 14 other patients who had their surgeries cancelled.
As a constituent in Interior Health’s region I want this taken to the highest levels of government to make them accountable to remedy what is going on in this province to the people who contributed the most to the system we were led to believe would be their for us when we needed it.
Connie Jones
150 Mile House