Public Healthcare Woe's

When people learn I was born in Canada the first thing out of their mouth is usually

"Why on Earth did you leave? Don't you get free healthcare there?"

No, we don't. 

We have public healthcare funded by tax dollars.

Yes, it's true that I a person does not have to pay for ER visits

but it also means that there is a lack of certain things you get in 

private healthcare, like customer service.

Here is a small example of what I mean,

I recently visited home and while there my grandmother 

fell and ended up in the ER.

While I was there she needed to get up and use the commode,

instead of bothering the nurse I helped her up to use it and got her back 

into bed.  It was change of shift so I let the nurse take report and come 

around to get vitals. While she was taking vitals I pointed out that the 

commode was full and that the foley bag needed emptying.

The nurse said that she would return in a moment to do both.

I waited 30 minutes and watched the foley bag get fuller,

I waited another 15 minutes before approaching the nurse 

and offered to empty both the foley and the commode if she could 

tell me where she would like me to empty it.

She got annoyed and told me she would be 

"right there"

I spent an hour there visiting with my grandmother,

the foley and commode never got emptied while I was there.

My uncle who stayed with my grandmother that night told me

he had to ask 3 more times before anyone took care of it.

Sadly, this is pretty typical

and not the first or last story I have about

public healthcare.