Chez PLJ

Being a more-or-less committed lefty in a society that seems to be creeping ever towards the right, I’m pretty used to being perpetually disappointed in election aftermaths. (And then if I’m actually happy with the local result I’m usually disappointed by some stupid thing the pol says later on—but that’s a completely different story.) Being also somewhat of a political cynic, I loathe campaigns that seem to consist mainly of cheap shots (the fake Ignatieff photo and other SunTV antics), wedge issues ad nauseum (abortion—c’mon we’ve done that one already, guys; don’t keep regurgitating it) and the other usual election sideshows.

One thing that forever seems to keep popping up, however, is How We Must Fix Medicare, which seems to be code for: How Can We Privatize The Sucker Without Anyone Noticing? The Globe and Mail in particular has been beating the drum about how great hospital partnerships with private consortiums are. I’m not going to get into the pros or cons about this topic, but the photo in one particular article attracted my attention because it was a photo involving an institution that we visit a lot, Bloorview Kids Rehab.

Or, ahem, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, as it’s known now, after a Mr. Holland and his company donated a buttload of money to the institution. The whole idea of naming rights in exchange for a pile of money has always really rankled me when it involves an existing institution. SkyDome, a fabulous name—evocative, original, and the result of a province-wide contest—changed into the boring nonentity that is Rogers Centre. Young People’s Theatre became the awkward Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People when Kimsa’s son donated a large sum of money to the theatre company. (The fact that Mrs. Kimsa had no roots in the children’s theatrical community rankled a lot of people at the time. Luckily, thanks to another donation, the name reverts back to the original one next season.) The venerable O’Keefe Centre became the Hummingbird Centre and then after the tech crash changed again to the Sony Centre. It’s head-spinning, sometimes. I’m still resistant to Holland Bloorview, but I suppose name changes aren’t all bad: Bloorview used to be named the Ontario Crippled Children’s Centre.

The Globe‘s photo was complete with a suitably photogenic disabled kid in a wheelchair—another thing that mildly irks me, having had my handsome son be used as a prop for political or promotional photo ops on more than one occasion.

Here are three kids including Jon being posed with two provincial government ministers at his old school. Believe me, the other two kids were very dishy-looking, too!

Ever since Jon was first diagnosed with his medical issues as a baby our family has accessed more than the usual quota of health care. From when he was six months old we have been regular visitors to Sick Kids, in too many departments to name (actually, at least nine: Emergency, Neurology, Orthopedics, Radiology, Physiotherapy, Opthalmology, Surgery, Ambulatory Medicine, Dentistry. I believe the only floor we haven’t visited is the one housing Oncology, and let’s hope we never have to go there), in addition to Bloorview; as well as two different hospitals while visiting Vancouver on separate occasions. In addition to the litany of appointments, he’s also had surgeries under general anesthesia five times now, three of them major ones; if sitting in the OR waiting room that many times doesn’t make us medical system veterans, nothing will!

In our health-system experiences we’ve never had any major complaints about Jon’s medical care (with the possible exception of a misdiagnosed broken femur at Vancouver’s Children’s Hospital, how-the-hell-do-you-miss-that, but again that’s a different story); and personally haven’t had a huge problem with the wait times for procedures. I could do with fewer extra-charge items (a $450 ambulance bill in Vancouver especially comes to mind as a bit excessive); but, overwhelmingly the Canadian medical system has been good to us. Being freelancers with no extra health insurance, we appreciate it more than anyone with “normal” jobs can possibly imagine. No matter what the fear-mongers tell you, it does work.

So go out and vote this Monday. But don’t screw things up!