Great care given in the emergency department
A recent trip to the emergency gave me a good look at what our health-care workers are dealing with every day.
Despite the sea of humanity in front of them, with more coming by the hour, my most urgent needs were attended to promptly and efficiently by a kind and caring staff. Once the most emergent issue had been dealt with, the wait for other investigations and tests took time, but at no point did I ever feel I was not getting good care despite having been there for more than eight hours.
When I read articles criticizing our health-care system, which admittedly is under stress, a comparisons to the United States is often made. A recent article in the New York Times put a bit of perspective on the issue.
The average per person cost of health care in the U.S. is $12,900 per year. In Canada it is $5,900 while in Japan it is $4,700.
Now let’s look at life expectancy. In Japan it is 87.6 years. In Canada it is 84.7 while in the USA it is 79.3 years. So more money does not necessarily result in better outcomes, although it does make better profits for health-care companies.
Yes, our health-care system is under stress. We need more doctors, nurses and technicians. But there are other factors at play in the larger scheme of things, including lifestyle choices, if the international statistics are to be believed.
Meanwhile, we need to be grateful for the people who face a sea of humanity with various needs every day, hour after hour, and do so with compassion, sensitivity and skill.
Thank you to all of them.
Shirley McBride
Cordova Bay
Invite me to COP29, I am free to travel
Being an older fellow, I find that trying to understand COP28 is puzzling. Did they, the very important people who seem to know all the answers, meet once per year, in 28 years?
I assume that they all flew by air, stayed at the most posh five-star hotels, ate the best food, and had many free drinks (the best wines). So, how can these smart, important people come up with conclusions that we have to stop using fossil fuels?
If they flew, then they used oil and aluminum, produced by fossil fuels. The food they ate possibly came by air or by boat in refrigerated vessels, powered by fossil fuels.
Now, I assume the very smart and clever people came up with alternatives to fossil fuels? I did not read about that.
If we stop using fossil fuels the world, as we know it, will come to an abrupt end, nothing will move and we will all starve or freeze to death. Could these 28 meetings not be conducted over something like Skype or video, thus saving the world all that fossil fuel used for the meeting?
Next year, they can invite me and some of my friends to the meeting, I might have something to say too. If we ban all fossil fuels, how will electricity be generated?
Please invite me, I am free to travel and do get hungry.
J.I. Hansen
North Saanich
Humans don’t deserve to live on this Earth
Isn’t it amazing mankind knows so much about the cosmos that the eclipse of a star 700 light years away can be determined so accurately and that the exact track of visibility here on earth can be determined.
Sadly we can’t seem to deter human greed that causes global warming, war caused mass destruction and untold waste of lives and many other follies of the human race. I am not convinced we deserve to live on this beautiful planet.
Mike Wilkinson
Duncan
Fairfield proposal needs a public hearing
The proposal that involves 1733-1737 Fairfield Rd. and Abkhazi Garden is an example of a creative development in motion.
We share the property line with the rear of all three addresses in this proposal. This project is in our face, literally. I do beg to differ with Coun. Caradonna’s comment that “four storeys seem reasonable for Fairfield Road.”
It is decidedly unsuitable; a solid, rectangular behemoth. After construction, as proposed, the bordering property to the east will exist in all day shadow … grim.
We have worked to remain positive about this project from its early proposal. After all, our house, an infill, built 28 years ago, was, I have heard, very unpopular with the community. At least its design “fit” into the feel of the community.
1733-1737 was initially an attractive design. Nineteen units built staged at a lower height. It included six two-store peaked roof townhouses facing along Fairfield Road.
The building’s character design seemed well matched to the neighbourhood. The subsequent design changes have been surprising: taller, designed like a brick and the living units increasing by 60 per cent. All the result of seeking the elusive development dollar.
Today, feeling grumpy about the loss of our neighbourhood. This may be misplaced grief or perhaps it’s simply the uninspiring, grey, sodden December day out there. Still, pleased a public hearing will occur.
Gwen Gaddes
Fairfield-Gonzales
Fairfield needs more large developments
Re: “Plan for 4-storey building and Abkhazi downzoning will go to public hearing,” Dec. 9.
The development on Fairfield Road related to Abkhazi Garden and think this a good plan. I would hate to see a beautiful garden gone for the sake of more housing. We need to preserve historical gardens.
The Fairfield site is good as it is on a main road with bus transport and shopping close by.
Comments from neighbours like “the development was too big and intrusive for the area” are true for the immediate neighbours, but some of us are tired of the nimbyism of Oak Bay and Fairfield people who don’t want more density to upset their nice quiet old-fashioned neighbourhoods.
If Greater Victoria is to develop for increased density it has to be fair. I think the Fairfield site is a perfect spot and then maybe a few more small multiplexes would follow.
Cathy Bhandar
Saanich
Replace Malahat road with a six-lane highway
For me, the issue of improving the road journey up and down the Island is long settled.
There needs to be a proper highway linking the Capital Regional District to the rest of the Island that does not include the current and many one-lane bottlenecks in both directions.
Either improving the current route or building a new one is an absolute necessity, and anyone who suggests other fixes is in denial. Yes, transit improvements and minor roadway fixes will help in tiny increments, but not in the forward looking manner in which our fast-growing region needs.
With all the talk of the need for housing for people here and the many more on their way, we need to access a safe and efficient way to head north and south without sitting in traffic.
Without major improvements these bottlenecks will worsen. If you want to curtail the burning of fossil fuels simply by way of reducing number of idling cars, trucks and buses waiting to move in both directions, then we need a six-lane highway.
I hope that our political leaders will show leadership and build the highway that is so sorely needed, while protecting the tough but equally important ecological areas.
This can be achieved with a engineering know-how and the political will to acknowledge that it will be tough and expensive.
It is an absolute necessity.
Stu Shields
Saanich
Fountain’s tiara should be retained
I think it is important to retain the Centennial Fountain tiara and the reflective pool for at least two reasons:
1. They are integral to the fountain, as originally designed, and the total package is a significant public work of art.
2. If the public can walk right up to the monoliths, the sculptures will be subject to graffiti and vandalism.
The interactive water feature could easily ring the tiara, and be activated in the summer only. A few signs to warn the public that they might get sprayed (as per most other interactive water features).
The public sees the water on the pavement and quickly figures out where they can stay dry.
Doug Lee
Victoria
They came for deer — now, it’s about humans
Now that we have culled the deer on Sidney Island because there not native to the island shouldn’t we now remove the humans that have settled on the island who are not native as well?
After all, all those houses have taken away the natural vegetation that the deer were removed for. Isn’t this the logical next step?
Steve Smith
Sidney
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