Everyone likes a troublemaker, someone who challenges and questions authority especially if the goal is to improve things for everyone. Every time I see Raj Sherman appear on the news, it brings a smile to my face. He does not back down easily and his antics are bringing health care issues to the forefront, resulting in some positive change.
I recently had a chance to sit down and talk with Sherman face to face before his presentation in St. Paul and found him to be a very sensible man, far from the image of an emotionally unstable individual making unsubstantiated claims that the provincial government has been trying to put forward. Although he is making clear the problems he sees in the health care system, he also has solutions. Sensible solutions.
I brought up the concerns that we simply do not have enough family doctors in the area and that it often takes months to get an appointment. I recently read a letter in the news complaining about people taking their children to the emergency room with an earache. My thought at the time, is what are you supposed to do? If you phone the doctor for an appointment it will take months, is the child supposed to sit with an earache for two months before going to the doctor? By that time it will be a real emergency.
Sherman's response was very sensible. The problem, he explained, is that specialists are paid a lot more then general practitioners; as a result there are too many specialists and not enough generalists. The government should cut the pay of the specialists and increase the pay of the generalists, said Sherman adding that more spots to train doctors should be opened up at the provincial universities. All physicians should be required to work at least two years in a rural area before they can apply for a position in the city. He said many of the doctors would settle in rural areas and stay after the two years.
A second very sensible solution to the health care crises in Alberta, according to Sherman, is to build more extended care and palliative care facilities. He said that acute care beds cost almost $500,000 per year to maintain and they are often occupied by elderly and people who would be better off in a different type of facility. This creates a backlog of patients that results in longer emergency room waits. Since there are more and more people turning 65 in the province, the situation is not going to get better on its own. These facilities are needed urgently.
Every issue I brought forward, including our closed psychiatric wing, seemed to have solutions. Finally I looked at Sherman and asked, “If there are solutions, then what is the problem, why are we not taking the action to correct the health care system?" He replied simply, “I don't know, I can't figure out the answer to that."
I am aware that the solutions may not be as simple as they seem on the surface, as they involve negotiating with unions and professional organizations, but every journey begins with the first steps. I wish our government would stop butting heads and listen to some of the ideas this man is bringing forward.
