I really have been a bit tardy looking after my eyes but I have been very busy working on my book and I do pay in my taxes and my medical insurance to have doctors do the work and not me; I just want to be on the receiving end. However, I took a break just now to look at the Clinical Specialists in the Eye Institute and the web site has not been updated since the 23rd of January 2017. Since I always kept the website for my boss (Ob/Gyn) updated I am surprised to see that this one has not been updated since that time. I do know money for such items was not provided by the Ministry but there is a list of seventeen specialists with just two listing Cataract surgery as part of their specialty. One individual is surprisingly listed in the instructions that I received for Cataract Surgery where the name was changed in several places to the person to whom I was referred but missed in one spot (proofreading is one of my specialties!). I assume he has retired perhaps and replaced by the person that I went to see. Not criticizing the section as mentioned no funding is actually provided by the government for this type of work in particular although lump sums are provided for each individual unit in the hospital but there are a lot of necessary tasks to do. So that was rather interesting for me as I can now put to rest the thought that I was seen only by a student and not checked by the presiding specialist. I see that only three of the specialists do strabismus as I do suspect that babies/small children are operated on who have my condition but again I do not know that (and certainly my Ophthalmologist Dr Dyson (a pioneer in these early surgeries back in London, Ontario said that my eyes would not benefit from surgery; reading the literature some people do not). Since I can manage my condition with glasses I never think about it (plus wearing glasses since I was one I definitely do not like bugs in my eyes!). If it wasn't for the cataracts I would never really have to see anyone about my eyes except to get new lenses as the plastic ones deteriorate - I figure they last two years and these ones I have are nearly three years now so need replacing. Although I had a new prescription last year I didn't fill it because I was being referred for cataract surgery. The lenses are still good enough I can just tell that they are not as precise as they were. Not like glass; glass stays exactly the same for ever. What we need are better glass lenses but plastic is cheaper than the investment that would be needed to produce thin glass lenses that didn't shatter and damage the eye and the plastic need replacing I believe every two years so some business is benefiting! As mentioned when I finally stopped wearing glass lenses in the late 1990s I may have been the last person on the planet wearing glass lenses and my lenses at that time were getting rather ancient and somewhat difficult to replace as glass!
Interestingly only two people do Cataract Surgery and considering the aged population that does seem a bit strange but the website is not up to date (five years is a long time). I believe this new person that I am to be re-referred to has OR slots at the General Campus although the Riverside Campus also works. I have now thought that through and my daughter would just pick me up in the surgery area so I do not have to make my way out of the building! Being old is fascinating having so much time to do whatever I want so that I do not always bother thinking about some of the things that I probably should pay more attention to like my medical care. I have been savouring this past couple of years without doctors (except for my own near and dear) as my husband attended quite a few those last few years. I am sure they extended his lifetime quite a bit especially the pace maker which gave him another nearly ten years but it felt as if I was constantly taking him to doctors. I was happy to do it since he benefited but it is much nicer not to be going out the door constantly. Surprisingly I did look this new doctor up (and the old one finally) and he trained here in Ottawa and did a fellowship in the United States and then back here again. Great luck for Canada to have him return here. The Americans love to have our doctors and our PhDs. We need to retain them; we support their schooling with our taxes; it is short sighted not to ensure there is a place for them here.
Anyway I shall be glad to be finished with this excursion into the Medical world; great place to work. Never like to be on the patient end of that if I can avoid it. Good to see so many specialists for sure but the overall funding for training new physicians needs to be more intensely directed at Family Medicine in a big way to get as many students out of each of the next five years of graduating classes in Canada into Family Medicine (give them bonuses if they promise ten years they can retrain if they just have to do that particular specialty - it is permitted for them to do that). It is by far the best of the specialties as it encompasses the entire body and the most interesting as one sees probably over the course of a lifetime so many interesting and certainly research paper worthy diseases/events. Of course they are so busy they do not have time to write these papers! I must write a letter to the Premier (and I did do that) to express my thoughts in this regard. I am all for letter writing and with the aging population and the increasing immigration of families with children we should be able to get enough Family doctors to easily manage the aging population out of this fresh group of young people in our schools.
I did have another thought it used to be that everyone did a one year internship and indeed they still do although it is absorbed into the specialty that is chosen so why not train everyone as a family doctor for two years (there is a third year - 6 mo Emergency and 6 mo Obstetrics that some do do) they work for three-five years and then specialize. I know it seems manipulative but they would have the money in hand and such wonderful experience from their three-five years of working as Family Medicine specialists and then with the salary as a Resident doing a specialty they would actually be in better shape than going straight through plus they could have their children in between whilst doing family medicine and be able to devote their time totally to their specialty after the three-five years in Family Medicine. I realize they would be older but more experienced having spent three-five years in Family Medicine. There I like that idea and will send it off in a letter to the Premier and the Minister in charge of Health and Long Term Care (will think about sending to this person but did not do so). Would it result in people heading to the states; not likely because Residents do not get paid as well in the States as they do here. It is quite competitive and the spots here are guaranteed. Perhaps they are waiting an extra three-five years but our problem of Family Physicians would solve itself quickly and a fresh new group coming in every year as the cohort three to five years ahead of them goes into specialties. If a specialty does need students then it could be left up to the Medical School to select a minimum number to do that so that our specialty education continues unabated at the beginning but eventually I think that this constant infusion every year of family medicine specialists especially into the cities where we appear to have a shortage as well as the country but the crisis does seem greater in the cities will solve the problem of not enough doctors.
I remain utterly opposed to having foreign trained physicians who have not done their initial schooling here in Canada but if they are brought in then they must retrain for the entire specialty (including family medicine). But personally I think they should stay in the country where they had trained using up the resources of that county to do so; they owe that country their service.
Gaza is a good example of a country that will need help in a big way ; they are going to need their brightest and their best if they really want to have a Palestinian State. This will prove whether the Arab/Muslim world (hopefully this is only Iran doing it) is just wanting to keep Gaza as a knife in the back to Israel. Go Israel and eliminate the Satanic Hamas. They hide in hospitals, fight from hospitals and let babies die; stopping the mothers (family members) from taking care of them it would appear as they expose them on a table. The most disgusting thing I have ever seen was that; what a terrible thing to do to babies.
Back to the Siderfin Book; must not dally; I do want to complete this task in a reasonable time frame.
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