Recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. For radiation treatment I must go to the Cancer Clinic, in Victoria, five days a week for four weeks. There is a three month wait to start treatment .Apart from being inconvenient this adds to the stress level. Providing radiation treatment mid island would reduce the demand on the Victoria location, perhaps reducing wait times for all involved.
When my wife Tracy had a heart attack, doctors at NRGH told us that Tracy was going to have to go to Victoria, as Nanaimo does not have the facilities to deal with heart attacks, but they were waiting to hear back from the Victoria hospital as to when they can take her. After being told, by Victoria, ‘we’ll get back to you’, four or five times, they put my wife and an accompanying nurse in an ambulance and off to Victoria they went. The medical staff, associated with NRGH, are the best, but the lack of proper facilities to treat folks in life threatening situations is becoming drastic for the people of upper Vancouver Island.
It took 9 months for me to see a orthopaedic surgeon where I learned I would be on his wait list for 2 years or I could be moved to one of his colleagues where it might be a year. X-rays showed extreme osteoporosis degeneration. I went to the US.
I went to the urgent care clinic for the first time as I have a mildly infected toe, took 45 minutes to see. A doctor, they apologized profusely for the wait and set a good 15 minutes cleaning my foot, took their time, popped me in for an X-ray on the spot, gave me some antibiotics and detailed instructions and I was on my way. New Zealand. Blew my mind. How is vancouver island’s access to doctor so so so so so so so bad.
