Giving praise where it’s due
I have been an avid critic of the health-care system in Digby County, but let me qualify that contention. It is the system, the administration of the system, the ‘they’ that we hear about, the ‘they’ that cannot be identified, which I believe are the issue.
We are blessed with caring, highly-qualified professionals who are doing their level best to respond to our needs. Yet, we have a healthcare clinic that has no voicemail or answering service. I contend that it disrespectful for citizens to have their phones on redial for hours to speak with a receptionist.
Further, according to the draconian dictate, you are financially penalized for not attending an appointment. After five hours on redial for two days to change an appointment for a friend, we have given up. The reason for the change? Our on-the-road medical system had booked a specialist ap- pointment in Halifax for the same day.
We have been the orphans, the lost souls with the Nova Scotia Health Authority. Although we are grateful for our new doctors and nurse practitioners, and we welcome them with open arms, we are all too aware that even though the revolving door of promises and practitioners has welcomed many, they do not stay.
Why? I suspect it is the nebulous ‘they.’
Against all odds one dear soul has hung in there for the good of our community, Dr. Ronald Matsusaki. Dr. Ron, or just Ron as he likes to be called, has toiled in the trenches for more than a decade. Born and raised in Hamilton, Ont., by Jim and Ruby Matsusaki, he graduated in 1973 from the University of Toronto Medical School. He has practised in Quebec, Alabama, Texas, Indiana, PEI and now here. He stays because he feels a great responsibility to the people of the area. He rarely takes a vacation because he doesn’t want the ER closed.
I asked him once why, his response: “This is now my home and these are my people, my neighbours and friends. I help because I can.”
Ron is a very caring, thoughtful person. He ran for, and was elected for, a term on town council. He did this to give what he could to his home, his community. Through his ER practice he saw a need for a thyroid clinic. Ron’s response – based on his awareness of so many without primary care practitioners, as well as far more progressive treatment options – was to set one up. Despite challenges, today this clinic is operating every Wednesday and it has a waiting list.
I so welcome our new arrivals and I applaud the recent announcements, but Ron, as well as physicians John Black, Marek Bander and Roy Harding, have been our first line of defense. They have toiled long and hard. Out of a sense of professional obligation John and Marek have kept their practices open. Roy comes to Bear River. The ‘they’ have contracted expensive locums that in many cases do not materialize, hence our ER is closed.
Recently a loved one of mine was taken by ambulance to Digby. Although now retired, he was an advanced care paramedic for 30 years. He was often in a chopper, the lone medical professional, flying into the North. He has lived through the paramedicine advances and before retirement was an educator. Both of us sighed in relief when we saw our Dr. Ron. We knew that he was now in good hands and that Ron would ensure the best outcome possible. Not to take anything from the paramedics who make the effort to ensure that a patient arrives where they can be treated – as they are often not acknowledged – but seeing Ron made him and me feel safe. His gentle soft-spoken demeanor, his respect for his patients, his obvious level of expertise was the first step to recovery. Thank you Dr. Matsusaki!
We are grateful that you have chosen to stay here care for us. In the words of my late great- grandfather who I know would have given you this accolade, “You are an angel, a gift, a noble example of your profession.”