What Canadians Want

PSYCHIATRIC CARE

* World Mental Health Award * Needy will not get the care *

* Psychiatric Care is being dismantled on the premise that community based care is superior to institutional care. However, no community care exists with the result a large portion of the homeless are people with no access to proper care. In Calgary, the General Hospital was accredited by the World Mental Health Organization as one of the finest in the world. Mental health care has now been spread between three separate hospitals, with no assurance that the very people who desperately need the care will be able to obtain this care, as these hospitals are far from the inner city and with virtually impossible odds to get there, a large number of individuals will not get treatment.

HEALTH MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONS (HMO's)

* Profit Oriented * Albertans not consulted *

HMO's, which are widely used in the States and seem to be making their way into Calgary, are profit oriented corporations. One American based HMO is reputed to make $1 Million dollars a day and the CEO earns $20 Million annually. Is this what is to become of the Holy Cross and a vacated General Hospital. The CRHA has done nothing to alleviate the concerns of Calgarians.

PRIVATIZED

* Cardiac Rehabilitation Clinic * Kidney Dialysis * Ophthalmology Clinics *

* A Cardiac rehabilitation clinic run by Cardiac Physicians has been moved from the hospital site where everyone had equal access to a private facility. No decision has yet been made as to whether there is to be a fee charged. Does this not create a conflict of interest?

* The Kidney Dialysis has been privatized and relocated in a shopping centre site. Will there be a patient fee in the near future?

* Ophthalmology Clinics have been privatized by the CRHA. One of the claims for privatization was to reduce existing lists. Surgery has been capped and waiting lists are 4 months long. Is this Universal Health Care?

WHAT CANADIANS WANT

* Why do Canadians not want an American Health Care System? The answer is simple PROFIT. Canadians spend far less on health care than Americans (14 - 16%), Canadians (7 - 9%), Alberta (5 - 6%) of the GNP. All Canadians can be covered by health care, whereas not all Americans can afford health care premiums. We have never been asked if we would pay more for health care premiums instead of cutting health care to the bone.

A perfect example of the costs of health care in the U.S. is the case of Baby Grayson who was born prematurely and has already run a bill of almost $200,000. Why would we accept a system that would bankrupt the average individual, and put health care above the reach of middle class and the poor? We Canadians enjoy a far superior health care system which we hold dear. Despite what premiers say and do, Canadians do not want the AMERICANIZATION of health care or a two tiered health care system.

From The Keep The General Hospital Open Committee