It’s the voice of patients everywhere. Each day there are stories in the news about the problems with our public health care system. Patients are finally voicing their concerns and people are realizing that although no health care system is perfect ours can be better. The popular notion that our health care is “free” seems [...]

When you think about our universal health care system do you ever wonder about the fairness of waiting lists, otherwise known as queues? Our politicians claim queues provide Canadians with equal access to health care. Do they really? Remember the recent outcry when hockey players and their families jumped the queue for the H1N1 flu [...]

In the eleventh hour on Sunday, November 29th, 2009 Lyall’s waiting comes to an end. Less than three weeks after his appointment with the Oncologists he succumbs to esophageal cancer. No more pain and suffering, no more medications, nebulizer or oxygen. No more waiting on any lists for health care. Only a few days before, my [...]

Lyall’s condition continues to deteriorate and he remains in hospital. He wants to see his granddaughter one more time. After a brief return to work my husband comes home and we prepare to travel with our toddler for one last visit with Grandpa. We arrive in British Columbia and commute the 43 kilometres between home [...]