Editor:
Mr. Olsen of Christina Lake got personal with his criticism in his letter of Aug. 4 (“Seniors deserve real care”). However, the seniors residential care facility I am advocating for in no way abandons our responsibility to care for the most vulnerable in society. Its operations will be publicly funded and its modern design will facilitate the very best of care, while expanding capacity by 20 per cent.
The staff providing care will be qualified at the same level as those employed in the crowded and worn-out public facilities now in use. Information provided during the public consultation process clearly indicates that they will be paid similarly to the staff in public facilities. Additionally, there is a strong commitment by VCH to maintain current staffing levels.
All of that information is in the public domain had Mr. Olsen cared to look for it. It’s a clever rhetorical flourish but deeply disingenuous for Mr. Olsen to compare that level of care to leaving “infants on the doorstep.”
No one in Canada is advocating for American-style health care; Mr. Olsen’s allusion is a favourite Canadian red herring. I would advocate for European-style universal health care where the private sector complements the public system to provide comprehensive, timely care – two standards we routinely fail to achieve in Canada.
It’s not the private sector that has given Canada an extreme shortage of seniors residential care facilities, the longest wait times for medical care in the developed world, and one of the least accessible “universal” health care systems anywhere. Standing in a category of its own, our “universal” system also fails to provide for more than 30 per cent of the cost of medically required care.
Mr. Olsen can look to our dysfunctional government monopoly system to find “a disgusting number of … citizens [left] out in the cold and seriously wanting.”
Keith Maxwell, Sechelt
