THE 3 KEY ISSUES
IN OUR CONVERSATIONS WITH ATLANTIC CANADIANS, SOME COMMON THEMES EMERGED ABOUT THE IMPACT OF DOCTOR SHORTAGES:
1 WALK-IN CLINICS AND ER DOCTORS LACK PATIENT CONNECTION
Marina Pogy, a Russian immigrant, is a little worried about seeing a different doctor every time she visits a walk-in clinic, especially since they don’t have a thorough history of her previous health complaints.
“Our walk-in clinic’s therapist would always say: ‘It is nothing serious, should be gone soon.’ I just hope that all my complaints were about nothing, and one day I die because of natural cause in the middle of my dreams at night not because some disease I did not see it is coming.”
Having a thorough history of patients is the main difference between a regular family doctor and a walk-in clinic, she said.
2 THE VERY REAL CONNECTION BETWEEN POVERTY AND HEALTH
There is a great need for people in poverty to access health care. In fact, there’s a proven link between poverty and ill health.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says poverty is the single largest determinant of health, and ill health is an obstacle to social and economic development. The WHO states poorer people live shorter lives and have poorer health.
“There’s a direct link to poverty and quality of life and health, and that’s physical and mental,” said Tara Kinch, who works at Chebucto Connections in Halifax. 3 PEOPLE OUTSIDE URBAN AREAS TRAVEL FOR TRIAGE AND TREATMENT The health clinic in Whycocomagh, N.S., was named Theresa Cremo Memorial Health Centre, after Yvonne Cremo’s mother.
So, besides not having a family doctor, Cremo feels added anxiety from this travel.
Years ago, when designing the clinic, they wanted to include a dialysis component, but that never happened.
Cremo’s daughter, who requires dialysis, has to drive to a health centre in another community — no matter the weather, no matter the time it takes.
“Some people travel 45 minutes to an hour, 15 minutes,” she said. “If they had dialysis close by, at least they’d be safe on the road coming home.”