Human life measured in dollars and cents?

Letters to the editor - Dear Editor,

I have been reading with interest recent articles in The Pilot regarding "changes, not downsizing" (to quote Ms. Karen McGrath, CEO of Central Health) to services at NDBM Health Centre in Twillingate.

What happens when/if our x-ray technician gets burned out and decides the job is not worth the hassle? What happens when/if doctors refuse to stay, or come here to work because there is not adequate backup in the diagnostic imaging (x-ray) department?

This is also a teaching facility. Are we to be downsized to the extent that this, too, will be lost?

Let's consider some questions regarding the ambulance service. How many meetings or clinics have been cancelled when people "can't get out of Gander" because of inclement weather? Do they ever wonder what it might be like to get a patient on an ambulance and try to get to Gander in weather worse than what they were not prepared to face? Do they ever wonder what it might be like on Twillingate Island, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a raging snowstorm, waiting for an ambulance attendant to be called in from Durrell, another from Bayview (two attendants are required) to get the ambulance at the Health Centre and then attempt to get to Crow Head to deal with an emergency there? This is one example and it is not an exaggeration, as anyone who lives here knows.

Do I understand, from what I read and hear, that there are not enough calls coming in during the night to warrant having ambulance attendants working that shift? If ONE ambulance call in ONE night can save ONE life, then surely that justifies the expense. Is human life here now measured in dollars and cents?

It is understood that Council needed to "follow protocol" when setting up meetings. Councilors are elected to represent the people. If, as in this case, meetings of Council and "some 12 concerned citizens" does not appear to have been effective, then it is time for Council to call a public meeting so that we can all ask questions and express our opinions. Or, are we, as taxpayers, becoming too complacent? Do we really care what happens? I think most of us do care but are we becoming too used to accepting downsizing (never mind "change") at the facility as the new norm?

There is no point in calling the health centre for information. As far as I know there is no permanent facility manager on site and that person probably wouldn't have been advised anyway.

It seems that the citizens are rarely advised of what "changes" are about to happen - more likely we are advised after the fact. No wonder, if our situation is any example, the hospital boards are more often than not in damage control mode!

Kathleen (Kay) Boyd

Twillingate