Hospital bed availability comes down to numbers
Even without taking into consideration the reality of an increasingly aged population and a population with increasing complexities of disease and co-morbidities, the lack of hospital-bed availability for patients that need one is explained by two simple statistical comparisons. It has nothing specifically to do with COVID.
In 1976, the 91原创 population was 23.45 million and per 1,000 population there were 6.9 hospital beds to serve their medical needs.
In 2021, the 91原创 population was 38.25 million and per 1,000 population there were 2.5 hospital beds.
A 61 per cent increase in population and a 65 per cent reduction in hospital beds: 65 per cent fewer hospital beds to service 61 per cent more people.
On the list of the 37 members of the (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, where No. 1 is best, Canada ranks 29th with respect to hospital beds per 1,000 population.
K.M. Laycock
Mill Bay
New medical school and the need to catch up
Our new premier recently announced a not-so-new pledge to open a new medical school. It is welcome news, even if it will be some time before we see the first graduates.
And I’m sure the 800,000 or so new residents of B.C. by the year 2030 will be thrilled to have 100 or so new medical professionals (who will be trained by who?) to find the medical help they need.
We’ve heard a lot of announcements recently in an ever-expanding whack-a-mole approach to solving basic systemic problems. But one we haven’t heard anything about is where all these new sick people are going to go for hospital treatment.
Our hospitals are running at capacity. ER wait times are ridiculous, to say the least, and people are pouring into B.C. at a rate of 100,000 per year, and yet there is no plan to accommodate them when they arrive.
I certainly don’t envy David Eby nor any government in his current position, but it’s about time he stopped grandstanding, told it like it really is and put forth a comprehensive plan to work toward a solution.
The whole process is years behind and it will take years to catch up. So stop grandstanding and get on with it.
As for the housing crisis, there are only two solutions, more shoebox accommodations or fewer people.
If you choose the shoebox, the governments will have to go into the rental business because no investor can possibly build accommodation for the price that is needed for it to be affordable to the many on the low end of the scale.
Unfortunately, governments do not have a very good track record as landlords.
Jack Trueman
Brentwood Bay
School liaison role was a great help
I was a special education teacher with the Greater Victoria School District, and also the principal of the alternative ed programs. I met Kevin Worth, then a school liaison officer, in 1982, the year I began my employment at S.J. Willis School.
This partnership program with the school district, the police and local agencies was an incredible benefit to our school and community. The officers had many roles and skills. However, policing our students was not one of them.
They built relationships with students and staff, did volunteer coaching of teams, worked with teachers and administrations to create a positive safe environment for all of us. They gave classroom lectures, teaching students about law, citizens’ (their) rights, and yes, built and created positive relationships with students.
They built trust with students, so they learned they had an individual they could talk to about an issue. They could also get first-hand advice on legal issues.
The officers were at times involved with school-based meetings and meetings with school staff and other agencies. They developed trust with students. On numerous occasions they were an additional support to our “vulnerable” ones.
Maybe other districts are approaching and delivering their programs differently than what the Greater Victoria district was doing.
Maybe if some groups are feeling “threatened” by police due to their past history, or unfortunate experiences, if they could see police in a different role, as a support, this could change their “fears” or negative feelings.
Aren’t we all supposed to be building bridges, and relationships, whether teacher, doctor, school principal, police? The school community officers do that.
VicPD definitely knew how to provide that support to schools. Hats off to them and to those school community officers, including Worth, Keith Hanson, Randy Johnson and others.
In short, the school liaison officer program was an invaluable asset and resource to all of us, especially our students.
I can’t tell you the number of times former students would greet Worth in the street, or in a coffee shop. He was, and is, a caring, supportive and dedicated member of our community.
Steve Frankel
Ladysmith
Adding a tax to a tax, courtesy the post office
Thank you, Jack Knox, for raising the topic of fuel surcharge on postal rates.
What really gets my goat is that the federal government is raising a tax on a tax. Diesel and gasoline pump prices already contain a hefty excise tax, and the post office then makes us pay a second fuel tax.
I used to sell and ship books, but ever-escalating postal charges have rendered this pointless.
Another deeply annoying issue is that sales taxes that are levied by the post office depend on the destination within Canada; that is to say, the province to which a parcel is sent. 91原创 postal services seem to be designed to separate rather than unite this country.
The stupid letter I received today from Canada Post (dated Nov. 22) congratulates me by saying “We’re proud to represent resilient small business, like yours, who do so much for Canada.”
Thanks, Doug Ettinger, great job you are doing as CEO of Canada Post.
Boudewyn van Oort
Victoria
More research needed about cannabis
Re: “Still too much we don’t know about cannabis,” editorial, Nov. 25.
The reality is emerging. Marijuana can be harmful.
Who would have thought that you could come to harm by drying out a plant, rolling it in paper and lighting it on fire then breathing the smoke into your lungs?
More research and more public awareness are needed.
Michael Stanger
Victoria
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