Primary Health Care is an issue -Doctors Needed

Recently I found myself without a doctor. I moved to Bridgewater 2 years ago and due to the fact that I could not find a doctor here I stayed with my doctor in the valley. Well she just quit. Since then I have been calling around to try to locate another doctor. I have health issues that require monitoring and I am at a loss with what to do. During my calling frenzie I did locate a doctor in Caledonia who is accepting patients but I was told no one from Bridgewater would be taken. I called about a nurse practicioner who recently started in New Germany and again was told no one from Bridgewater. Needless to say that I am sure there are a lot of people from Caledonia and New Germany that have doctors in Bridgewater. I tried many doctors out of the area and they all say the same..they will not take patients out of their area. What is a person to do?

I would like to know what other people think about this health care issue. I was talking to a doctor that says primary care is in crisis but nothing is being done because it is not being heard about in the news. He said we need to scream out to our MLA's and our government leaders and let them know that this situation needs to be addressed.

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Permalink Reply by Country Bumpkin on June 4, 2009 at 3:02pm: I totally agree. To spend all the governments efforts to make Emergency rooms work better and not have down or closed time is not the issue. If we had enough doctors to provide the regular care that people need, we wouldn't have to go to emergeny rooms and then they'd be used as intended...not as clinics. The fact that most people have to wait a month or more to see their family doctor (if they have one) is not acceptable. It's a sign that the doctors we do have are overworked. They all have to spend more of their time in the emergency department to keep it covered so they can't spend the time at their practice looking after their patients. Take it a step further...think of the age of your doctor and think of when he may want to retire. There is a majority of local doctors that are within 10 year of retirement and we're looking at that long to get "new" ones trained. Where and how is that going to help the problem of a doctor shortage in an area that has a very large ageing population?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kim Nichols on June 6, 2009 at 9:47am: Our health care system is definitely failing....Years ago it was top notch....Now I shudder at the thought of having a health issue that requires hospital care or diagnosis for that matter.....If u stay in the hospital you require a family member to come in every day and make sure u are okay.....The nurses don't have the time they did to make people comfortable and actually see if they are okay...They barely have time to give meds....and when they don't have time to do it, they send someone who may have never actually done it before...for example, putting in an intravenous feed and someone repeatedly sticks u and misses until u can't stand it...the IV Nurse then arrives and with one poke it is in.....Lack of experienced people is an issue....Doctors are forced to hurry and therefore, cannot be paying as much attention to illnesses as before....It has taken my husband a year and a half and still waiting to have a finger repaired after he snapped the tendon in it...They say it is purely cosmetic but it is not...his one finger is stuck half way down and it is pulling down the next one...How long can he wait and still be able to have full function? No one seems to care......

Our medical system needs help...It should be one of the first and foremost concerns of everyone!!!!!!!!!!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Oh Brothers on June 7, 2009 at 8:39pm: I agree that we need doctors. We're one of several provinces that do. Government needs to help make it more appealing for doctors to want to chose the South SHore as their home. That means having good schools, recreation and arts programs.

We need to train more doctors. While I don't think that you let in millions so that they are poorly trained, there has to be a way of training more. Potential doctors are choosing other careers because of the lack of space.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Bruce on June 11, 2009 at 12:12pm: Thanks for the comment Oh Brothers.

I don't think it is just a matter of training more doctors, but training them and keeping them in Nova Scotia. I agree with you that Nova Scotia has nothing to offer them. They can get paid more in other places and there is more to keep them there. Bringing one or two doctors to NS isn't helping either. If we can't get more doctors in NS, the ones that do come are get so overworked that they don't want to stay. Every Nova Scotian should be able to receive primary health care.

I think our government should look at promoting Health Centers here in Nova Scotia. For example open centers where complete health care can be attained. Staffthe center with a doctor, a nurse practicianer, a dietician, a neutricianist, and anyone else that can help in promoting good health. This way it takes the pressure off the doctors a bit. Other people in the center can do the follow-up and therefore leave the doctor to deal with the more important cases. In my case I don't need to see "a doctor" all the time but I do need follow-up with blood work and prescription refills to monitor my health. A Nurse practicianer could do that. I would then only see my doctor should anything change in my condition. That leaves my doctor available for other patients.

I worry about what will happen down the road. A lot of the doctors in NS are older and not too far from retirement. What will happen then? We live in an aging province and we all know that as we get older our health slowly goes. We need to feel that we can get health care and not have to wait a month to see our doctor or spend 6-8 hours in emergency. Health care should be the priority right now.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Matt John on October 3, 2009 at 7:19am: Health care (often healthcare in American English), refers to the treatment and management of illness, and the preservation of health through services offered by the medical, dental, complementary and alternative medicine, pharmaceutical, clinical laboratory sciences (in vitro diagnostics), nursing, and allied health professions. Health care embraces all the goods and services designed to promote health, including “preventive, curative and palliative interventions, whether directed to individuals or to populations”.[1]

Before the term health care became popular, English-speakers referred to medicine or to the health sector and spoke of the treatment and prevention of illness and disease.

I have to do ccnp certifications now-a-days and i need sufficient health care;

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Permalink Reply by MARILYN BRISTOL on December 4, 2009 at 6:06pm: Kim Nichols said:
Our health care system is definitely failing....Years ago it was top notch....Now I shudder at the thought of having a health issue that requires hospital care or diagnosis for that matter.....If u stay in the hospital you require a family member to come in every day and make sure u are okay.....The nurses don't have the time they did to make people comfortable and actually see if they are okay...They barely have time to give meds....and when they don't have time to do it, they send someone who may have never actually done it before...for example, putting in an intravenous feed and someone repeatedly sticks u and misses until u can't stand it...the IV Nurse then arrives and with one poke it is in.....Lack of experienced people is an issue....Doctors are forced to hurry and therefore, cannot be paying as much attention to illnesses as before....It has taken my husband a year and a half and still waiting to have a finger repaired after he snapped the tendon in it...They say it is purely cosmetic but it is not...his one finger is stuck half way down and it is pulling down the next one...How long can he wait and still be able to have full function? No one seems to care......

Our medical system needs help...It should be one of the first and foremost concerns of everyone!!!!!!!!!!!; ▶ Reply to This