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Issue #1043
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From Russ

The Ontarion

Hey There,

Maybe, just maybe, there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. A very long dark tunnel thats several years old already, but there is actually hope. You see, I had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon this past week and am now on his waiting list for hip replacement surgery. Due to the severity of my hip situation, I could possibly be dealt with within a year which is quit good considering how long the waiting lists actually are. However, because I’m basically in very good health and would be a candidate for ‘day surgery’, I could receive a call anytime after about 6 months from now. That would be a great way to spend part of miserable old November, but I won’t hold my breath.

I had a great conversation with the surgeon about the sad state of our medical system and how it is so broken that it’s just about ready to totally collapse. He explained how all the medical decisions are being made at the top, by the politicians and the upper bureaucrats, none of whom know a damm thing about medicine or the medical needs of people, or how to address and supply those needs. As well, they won’t and don’t except any information or advice from the medical community. They will not listen to or address the fact that the current political control of the medical system is driving doctors out of business. Doctors in this province are going broke trying to run family practices and must moonlight just to make ends meet. The BC government’s solution to the fact that more and more doctors are leaving family practices and that they can not attract new doctors, is to set up very expensive ‘walk-in urgent’ clinics. These are then ‘manned’ by new, young doctors who get paid more than a family physician gets paid, do not have to deal with the mountain of red tape and paper work mandated by the bureaucracy, do not have hospital rounds to keep up with, and go home at the end of the day to a quiet peaceful life. These clinics can not meet the on-going needs of most patients and these patients are constantly being ‘referred’ to specialists because the doctors in these clinics can’t supply on-going care and don’t really know what to do with these patients. Its a very sad and dangerous situation. Perhaps the fact that the system is so close to total collapse is a good thing because when it does, it will have to be rebuilt, right from the ground up. But if the politicians and bureaucrats won’t listen to the actual medical people, it would just be rebuilt wrong again and waist countless billions of dollars again. And speaking of waisting countless billions of dollars, while there is a drastic shortage of medical staff in every discipline, for every 2 patients in hospital there is 1 full administrator. Thats crazy. They need 10 times more nurses and 100 times LESS administrators.

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And now for some possible unfortunate but very necessary Squamidian business… In consultation with both Russ and Greg, we have decided to suspend publication of this weekly newsletter as of the beginning of June. In other works, the 28^th of May will be the last issue. Our intention is to take the next 3 month off, basically the summer. With the exception of some very rare inputs for Carol, our readership has gone silent. We have no way of knowing if anyone is still ‘out there’. I know the Rogers Cable company in Ontario has shut several readers out and that is frustrating. But there must be other reasons in play as well, from people being simply too busy to be involved, or perhaps even to just read the Email, to readers who have lost interest. I don’t know. I don’t know how to find out.

We will however reevaluate at the end of the summer as we approach September. If there is sufficient interest we have the option to start back up. If there isn’t, then there is really no point. Russ, Greg, and I pour our hearts into coming up with something, anything, to write about each week. It’s not easy sometimes to think of something but we have kept on trying, week after week. As of late, we have come to feel like we are waisting our time and effort. We all need this break. So, next week will be the last, for a while at least. In the mean time, we are open to ideas and suggestions.

doug

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Russ Is In Calgary

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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!

It’s May the 21st and its one of the big dates in anyone’s life. I happen to have an aunt that’s turning 100 years old today! Her name is Rita Hoy and she was married to my mother’s brother for many years. Her husband Ken Hoy was my mother’s brother and he passed away in the early 2000’s . My aunt Rita was my favourite aunt if that’s ok to say! She was always the nicest person to me and was a great friend to my mother over the years! Aunt Rita worked at the Cluet Shirt factory as a pattern maker and a sewing specialist. She spent many hours teaching my mother to cut out patterns and sew shirts. She and my mother used to make all of my brother’s and my shirts when we were public school kids! Right up until we were in High School we wore shirts that any kid would be proud to wear!

My Uncle Ken worked in the Lab at BF Goodrich on King St in Kitchener and was an avid fisherman all his life! I remember the huge lake trout and Muskie’s that he used to bring home and share with my parents. Dad often had fish to filet on his work bench from Uncle Ken’s fishing trips. He would filet them and cook the filets on his charcoal BBQ. Ken and Rita had three boys about the same ages as we three kids and they were all proficient at the sport. Their whole family always vacationed at a cottage on the shores of Lake Joseph north of Gravenhurst in Northern Ontario. I stood many times on the dock of the Lake Joseph shore below the Ontario Fire College that I attended for courses while learning advanced Fire Fighting techniques and imagined hauling in those monster fish that Uncle Ken used to catch in that same lake. In fact I often saw very large lake trout swimming in the clear water just beside those same docks. That is one of the best fishing lakes in that area and many of the fire fighters taking courses up at the college would fish off the docks when we had breaks from the school time at the college! That same college is now defunct and the courses from that school are being taught at 10 different locations of schools such as Conestoga College throughout Ontario since the Ontario Fire Marshal decided to do away with one main college in Gravenhurst! Oh well, no more OFC but the schools that now teach these courses are more conveniently located than the old school and less costly to include the Fire Fighting courses than to have an exclusive college dedicated only to that purpose!

Just talking about Rita and Ken’s family hobby and vacations has brought back a flood of memories and I’m proud to have an aunt that I love and loved in the past and present that’s managed to live to the ripe old age of 100 and still be healthy and active to this day!

I had spent a lot of my youth chumming around with Ken and Rita’s middle son Patrick and also have many stories I could relate of the times Patrick and I had adventures with each other as kids and teenagers as well. Patrick has passed away now and so has his older brother Bob. The only child of that immediate family Colin is still doing well and living in Sarnia. I hadn’t talk to Colin in about 20 years other than receiving an e-mail when Patrick passed away two years ago. I decided to call him last week and was surprised to hear that his older brother Bob had died two months ago. Bob had been living a reclusive life in an old house on Courtland Ave in Kitchener and hadn’t had anything to do with either his friends or family in several years before he passed away. I had tried to phone Bob several times but could not get an answer. Colin told me last week that Bob had lived the life of a hermit for about the past 5 years and had died alone in his old house of heart failure. Unfortunately Colin has been the only son to have kept in touch with his mother, my aunt Rita for several years now and was intending to spend her 100th birthday with her today. He said she didn’t want any big celebration and said so because she feels that all of her friends and family have passed away and there is nobody else alive to celebrate with her. I will be phoning her on Saturday “today” to wish her a happy 100th and let her know that Carole and I still think of her and love her after all these years and that she is not alone after all these years! Colin told me that he thinks she will be very happy to hear from us on this momentous occasion! What a special mile stone indeed for anyone to accomplish!

If you are reading this, you will surely remember that Uncle Russ turns 93 today the 21st of May as well and that also is a major mile stone for anyone to celebrate! Happy Birthday to Uncle Russ today for sure! He will be in Calgary visiting his son Mac during Russ’s 93rd birthday and I’m sure he’ll want to know that we are all thinking about him on his birthday today! It would sure be nice if he could receive well wishes via e-mail or phone call when he gets home from his trip to Calgary!

When people reach their later years, they always appreciate hearing from friends and relatives on their birthdays, I know I do! However in my case the most I usually hear from on such an occasion is my immediate family, Adam and Carole! It seems that most people don’t make a point of keeping people’s birth dates on their calendar any more like our parents used to do. The only person I know that makes a point of remembering people’s birth dates anymore is my lovely wife Carole! She has had a calendar filled with the dates of people’s births, deaths and other special occasions for as many years as we’ve been married and I’m sure that will continue to be a part or our lives until we reach the pinnacle of our lives together! 
If it weren’t for Carole’s concern for others in our lives, I sure wouldn’t have remembered all of those dates and times!

I guess I’ve stood on my soap box long enough for this week so, I’ll say goodbye for Today and hope to talk to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!

Bye for now…. Greg

PS: Something To Think About>

Please consider writing something to send to Doug for Next weeks Squamidian since it will be the last column you’ll have the chance to contribute to for a few months to come!

Talk to you all again in The Ontarion report on the 28th!

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