Nurses keep health system working

In a perfect health-care system, money would not be an issue.

Our emergency rooms wouldn't be constantly overcrowded -- with hours upon hours of waiting to see a doctor or to get a comforting word from a nurse.

You wouldn't be left holding your sick child in fear as the clock ticked slowly by, or having to sit next to someone who is throwing up into a vomit bucket.

You wouldn't see an elderly couple clearly bewildered at what was happening to them -- though you would miss witnessing them holding hands, a fitting tribute to the decades of love and support between them.

Nor would you have to watch the desperately ill arrive on their own, buckling over in pain with no one by their side to support them. And you wouldn't have to wonder what might happen to you if you were old and alone and sick.

If money was no object," you wouldn't see nurses treating patients while confiding to their colleagues that they are sick themselves -- but with a long weekend paying time and a half, money comes into play.

It does for all of us, of course.

If dollars and cents didn't come into play in providing health care, you wouldn't see a quick rotation of nurses treating patients -- some nurses on shift being sent home on because the bed count is low.

In fact, if the health-care system wasn't counting pennies, you wouldn't have to worry about things like bed counts -- and nurses who have foregone family plans on holiday long weekends wouldn't find themselves being sent home and losing expected money as a result.

But hospital care is costly. So yes, money is an issue.

That's just reality.

On a very personal note, I've had a recent first-hand experience with the health system.

Before we even knew how serious the problem was, my youngest son Jamie had his appendix burst and infection set in.

What should have been -- as we were initially told -- a two-day stay at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital turned into 15 days.

And yes, as a parent, it was scary as hell.

As a reporter, it's impossible not to look around and see where a tremendous amount of money spent -- and also see where money is doled out more sparingly.

We had the misfortune of being there over Easter weekend -- and employees working the stat holiday were happy for the time-and-a-half pay.

Can't blame them for that. That happens in every workplace.

But with money at a premium, and beds sitting empty, nurses were sent home.

And so my son, whose condition changed hourly, had several nurses in one given shift who knew nothing about him or his condition.

That's money playing a role in health care.

So here's the good news.

Despite the restraints that money creates, the system is working -- and it is very caring -- and it's not just efficient, but exemplary.

With all of my son's complications, including a collapsed lung and abscesses which antibiotics couldn't reach so they had to be drained, it's been an incredibly stressful time.

The ones that made it better? The nurses.

They care, and their concern is clearly obvious.

And they're the ones that make the system work -- despite being shuffled about to save dollars.

As the health-care system struggles to meet the needs of patients like my young son, the nurses just provide care.

And for that, we all need to be thankful.

Twitter: @susansherring


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