High praise for local hospital staff

To the editor, Recently, my mom, Willena ( nee McCallum), returned home to for an extended visit with her sisters and childhood friends in Truro, Bible Hill and Salmon River.

Not feeling well one day and thinking that it might be the flu, she consulted Dr. Phillips on Robie Street. He advised her that, perhaps, it was a good time to visit the Colchester Regional Hospital for further testing.

Sadly, after a few tests, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer,

I struggled with bringing her back to Ottawa so she would be with myself and the grandchildren, but, unfortunately, she did not have enough time as the cancer was aggressive.

My mom entered palliative care where she received treatment from Dr. Henderson and Dr. McKim, Megan from the Hospice Society, the fourthfloor nurses as well as receiving checkins from Dr. Phillips.

I have to commend the extraordinary care they gave my mom and the accurate information and empathy they showed our family. It was beyond any I have seen in any other hospital.

Thank you for making my mom’s passing bearable and letting her go with dignity.

Truro has a down- home feeling and community togetherness that I discovered quickly when I saw so many friends come and visit my mom and bid her goodbye. Not actually saying the words, but by saying, ‘ see you later.’

I want to say from the bottom of my heart thank you to them as mom would truly appreciate your comforting words, the chuckles of reminiscing and help over the days of our grieving. She was very blessed to have you all in her life from a very young age.

Finally, I wish the strength to my family in Nova Scotia – Donna, Bonnie and Sherry, and cousin Robyn. You lost a sister/ aunt that I know you will miss dearly.

To the community of Truro/ Colchester, please keep the faith in your new hospital, never give up the downhome feeling and growing is a positive direction. To the editor, I say let them take the time required to do everything right.

A former skeptic myself, I recently had the opportunity to have a tour of this facility and I can now tell you it will be worth the wait. It is going to be a fantastic building that we will be proud to have in this area.

I understand the frustrations with the delays, but the issues are being caught now, and will be corrected before it opens instead of having to close it down later to fix issues.

Let’s all be patient and for anyone who has not seen this structure yet, you will just say “wow” after you see it.