Saturday, November 18, 2023

Continuing work on the Siderfin book

Well into the children and grandchildren of Thomas although it is a slow pace. I had hoped to finish it this week but will likely go into next week. The families have spread out across England and they are large in the 1800s. Thomas was in Derbyshire but the family in Somerset is also moving away with some into Devon - my line - and others into the Midlands. 

It has settled down here in Canada once again except for a few incidents of anti-Semitism. I have not noted any Islamophobia although there has been some discussion. Myself I do not become involved with either hatred; I respect both peoples but do not like terrorists. The attack on the Twin Towers opened our eyes here in the Western Hemisphere and we are more watchful but it did not alter my sentiments with regard to hate groups. They do not belong here - lose your hate before you come here. Everyone can get to live here but it must be peaceful. No marching with flags on the streets and no threats that are anti-Semetic or Islamophobic. Write letters to express your thoughts and stay off the streets, please and thank you. I think most Canadians are aware of what is happening in the world. We do not need you to parade up and down; you are not telling us anything new. You are simply causing trouble which we do not want.

I wish that Hamas would just simply go; they are not wanted in Gaza; they were responsible for 12% of the children dying each and every year and there haven't been any statistics quoted for the adults. They do not permit the Gazans to get ahead; the monies sent to Gaza built tunnels and bought firearms/bombs/etc.  They created a barbaric situation that has resulted in the deaths of 1200 Israelis (over 230 are held hostage even yet unless they have murdered all of them) and over 10,000 Palestinians although that also includes Hamas because they constantly pretend to be Palestinians but they are actually the Muslim Brotherhood. They prevent the Palestinians from seeking safety after there are warnings. Yet they gave the same warnings to Israel the day after 11/7 so it is an established custom now. It is a no-win situation for Hamas and they are causing the deaths and hard life that the Gazan people are experiencing. So leave - unfortunately you must leave by water as Egypt does not want you but probably you can swim or the Houthi rebels can come and get you or Lebanon, do watch out for these two firing at Israel as they may blow up any boats that come for you. 

I do listen to what President Erdogan of Turkey has to say. He is an interesting leader and has been helpful many times during this barbaric war that Russia is waging against the Ukrainian people. He obviously has a different view of Hamas within his own country and I do respect and listen to what he has to say. However, the ancient right of Israel to exist has only been recognized lately by the other countries in the Middle East and is perhaps conflicting the present situation. There is a need for Hamas to be gone from Gaza - the people of Gaza do now appear (some of them anyway) to want to bring their country together and form a Palestinian State. They should be permitted to do so and it is Hamas that prevents that. I am quite sure that both Egypt and Israel would prefer peace to what is currently happening and Hamas is preventing that. The solution is obvious Hamas must be made to vacate Gaza. I would wish there were far fewer deaths but Hamas uses the Gazan people including infants as human shields - they are cowards. Cowards are the most difficult to deal with remembering Adolf Hitler in that regard as he was a coward right to the end of his life when he ordered 12 year old children to man the walls and gates of Berlin and defend them against the approaching allied armies. Amongst the many barbaric events (including the holocaust that killed six million Jewish people) that he orchestrated this was truly a barbaric act against the German people and the world for that matter. Then there is the matter of the hostages - the taking of infants, children, women and men from Israel. This must not be permitted to escape punishment. Countries place a high value on their children and allowing this to stand and not be severely punished is a threat to the children of every country. For the leaders and co-operators a price on their head would help to ensure their punishment (dead or alive). One notes that the Congo is in the midst of turmoil with nearly 6 million people affected and the enslavement of peoples there as well although adults as far as I can see in the news. Russia took children from Ukraine and they have not all been returned. There must be protection for the children of the world. We must make examples of people who use children as bargaining chips.

However, I need to get my book done and I see Pierre Poilievre is certainly involved in this situation and I am beginning to see the leadership qualities that he needs to become Prime Minister. I would wish he had the gumption of a Bryan Mulroney and increase the GST to 10% because nothing will keep inflation in check as well as that would. Plus if one wants to give a break to corporations and they are doing Canadians a good turn than he can reduce it to 5% to encourage things like more housing. But that is not likely as leaders these days are weak with regard to things like that although Justin Trudeau did bring in a carbon tax which is also a good method of fighting inflation as you can give a break to those least able to handle that increase. The GST itself is designed to be a tax on the rich who can certainly afford it.

I think on Monday I shall call the Eye Institute and see if I can get copies of the two eye tests to have ready for the referral. It is something that I could do so that it is ready to go. I still hope to have the one 15 minute surgery between the 15th and 24th of December and time will tell. The other eye is pretty much useless anyway and thinking again about the more expensive lens $2000 I really wonder at the value in putting that lens into that eye anyway (the insurance company does pay some of it and it would be wasted money which I prefer not to be involved in). My father did well with the simple lens and my eyes are the same as his. Although at the end of his life he refused to wear his glasses, he had dementia unfortunately, I rather think he had good use of his eyes as I took him in his wheel chair to the piano and for just a couple of minutes he enjoyed that but quickly became annoyed with his surroundings (the nursing home/long term care) and refused to continue. So we continued our walk about. I shall always remember when I asked to take him for a walk outside he said to the nurses that I might get lost and they shouldn't let me do that. They had after all watched me park in the parking lot so knew that I could manage and I came as often as I could considering that I was seven hours away so was known to them (it was funny actually)! I stayed close to the nursing home so as not to upset him. He was stubborn and dementia doesn't do well in stubborn people I think; not a physician so can not speak clinically on that one. One must be fairly placid to manage dementia I think perhaps.

On to the day, Ian White's Psalms playing and I really must hunt out the Gregorian Chants as some of it is Christmas music and the time is fast approaching. Good news though my weight has stabilized (date squares are great - high in calories) and I shall indulge a little this week in the goodies that I bought to regain the three pounds. 

I did tick off "requires a reply" in the email to the Premier of Ontario (Doug Ford) in my note suggesting that all medical school students going into residency in Ontario do the two years of Family Medicine and then work for three to five years and then return to do their preferred residency if they want. Family Medicine is by far the best of the residencies in my opinion as they look after the entire body and if the family medicine specialists only had more time they could produce research papers for publication on their very large clientele as they see thousands of patients compared to the much smaller numbers seen by individual specialists. If specialties need students in order to maintain their numbers then selections could be made (perhaps one from each medical school per specialty if needed) in order to maintain the training in that particular specialty (unless it is a foreign student paying tuition). But it is not unusual for some specialties in a beginning year to not be taught at particular institutions in a given year. The period of training is longer obviously as they are doing an in depth look at a particular part of the body or a particular overall human pattern like neurology.  Anyway nothing back yet. In the email form it did say that the Premier would forward the email on as well to the relevant Ministry so did not send it to Health and Long Term Care but I could I suppose. But today is a work day on the book. I believe this would alleviate the shortage in Family Medicine Specialists and give all students an opportunity to work in this whole body medicine for three to five years before specializing in their preferred specialty. Money wise they would definitely be better off as they could pay off their debt from medical school and have a clean slate going into their preferred specialty and then into practice without student debt. Plus we are not then taking in doctors from other countries which have paid to produce their doctors and should certainly be able to retain them; having produced them the responsibility of that doctor is to their own country and we shouldn't encourage them to leave. 

If they started such a program this year then the current first year people in residency are already doing that particular year of Family Medicine as it is a shared year and the next year is a lot of clinical work on the job in physician's offices thus alleviating the huge workload immediately next fall. Then they are ready to go into practice and I am sure that the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care can come up with some sort of an office style that would suit this type of Family Physician with a constant changeover every three years. The second year residency could be in the office that they would eventually work in and it does sound doable. It would reduce emergency visits considerably taking pressure off of the hospitals. Although pharmacies have excellent people they are not physicians and I am not convinced that moving to pharmacists doing clinical work is a good idea if it can be avoided. For some items fine but I think providing a physician for people is a much better plan as they look at the whole person and have the knowledge to help them.  We certainly pay enough taxes to have excellent medical care!



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