There was a piece in the news recently on what was an escorted tour of the new urgent care centre down in the old Costco building in the east end of St. John’s. I usually don’t pay attention to media events like this one but I did because I have a hope. That hope is that the urgent care centre represents a real and fundamental change in how medical care is going to be delivered in the future in our beloved province.

The vision represents a step in the right direction towards a different way of doing things that I find encouraging and I think is, in a way, a facing of the facts. Those facts include the idea that everyone in Newfoundland and Labrador, or in Canada, is going to have his or her own doctor. It is not on, as they say. It is now an unreal expectation.

The question is begged as to what your course of action is when you are really sick, but you don’t need to be hospitalized. It has been obvious that going to Emergency at Health Sciences or any other place can’t be the answer. I know of that which I speak. Circumstance has taken me to the ER several times in recent years. It is a zoo.

I was there on my visit because of what might have been a stroke. It was declared to be an “episode.” I went by ambulance and went through the triage procedure and then suffered through several hours of waiting. That was fair enough. It had to be. There had been several road accidents that night and people involved obviously got priority. Eventually a young doctor saw me and then called in a specialist for some help. It was all fine.

I am still here. It all worked out. The ER waiting room was blocked to the hatches that night. One guy obviously has some sort of drug problem. He was stamping around angry with everyone, looking to be seen immediately. He eventually left. Thank God they have security at the hospital. It is the way of the world. They have security for Mass at the Basilica these days.

There were some very old people waiting in ER. My heart went out to them. Some seemed confused and just wanted medical help. Actually, everyone there wanted medical help. I went to the ER fully expecting to be there for a while. I don’t think the old people there had the same expectation. There were also mothers or fathers with children. I guess they weren’t “Janeway young” children but they were there. I also felt for them. Being a parent is not easy I can tell you. When a child is sick it weighs very heavily on you. It is part of the price of love.

My other emergency experience of late involved my wife, Judy. She slipped while hiking the East Coast Trail down around Torbay and drove a tooth through her lip. She went to her dentist who took care of her tooth, but he sent her to Health Sciences for a stitch. After triage at Health Sciences, she got that stitch. It took over eight hours. There were sicker people than her there in ER that day. It was a Saturday and business was good.

So, who was the bad guy in this tale? You look in vain for someone to blame. You can’t really point a finger at anyone. It is just the way things are set up. I had to wait for several hours to get the attention to the “episode” that I needed. Judy had to wait for eight hours for a stitch. Some years ago, when I suffered a severe cut to my hand that took more than thirty stitches. I didn’t have to wait at all.
See how it all works? If you are hurt really bad you are going to get in and get attended to. If you aren’t an “emergency” then take a seat.

That is why I live in hope with the establishment of the urgent care centre. I want it to work. Things like that along with nurse practitioners can take the pressure off the system. It is hoped the day will come when the ER is not loaded to the gunnels and you don’t need a security guard.

In the end the hospital experience worked for me. The experience for my wife did not work. She needed a stitch not a transplant. That could have been done several other ways besides in a great big hospital.

I take comfort in the fact that a different way is at last being sought. We need a different way of doing things. Hope is a wonderful thing.

You can contact Jim Furlong at [email protected]