Dear Editor:
And here’s just one more reason people drive from Stettler to Red Deer ...
I got, suddenly, very ill. I left work and went directly to the ER in the Stettler hospital. There were five people ahead of me. Not 25. Not 35. Five!
In three hours, I had had the routine questions asked, my temperature and blood pressure taken, and was sent back out to the waiting room.
Apparently at some point in that three hours, the doctor had left the ER, but no one saw fit to tell us peons in the waiting room that.
I left. I figured that since I hadn’t gotten any worse in three hours, I’d likely be ok.
Seriously?
I could have driven to Red Deer, been seen in a walk-in clinic, had a prescription filled (were that necessary), had a nice lunch and still been home faster than I managed by going to the hospital that was, literally, less than five minutes away. (That’s now my default plan for the future). And let’s not forget ... I never did see a doctor. Who knows how long it would have been if I’d been sheepish enough to stick around for that!
I’ve spent up to seven hours in the ER in Calgary back in the early 90s ... but that was Calgary! Stettler is a tiny little hospital in a tiny little town!
Ahh, well. They did take my blood pressure, so I’m pretty sure they will be handsomely paid for my care. Evidently, that’s what is important.
Laura MacMillan,
Stettler