What does our health care actually cover?
This was my situation a little while ago. My wife was transported to Royal Columbian Hospital intensive care unit. I had used all my money to travel back and forth from Hope to New Westminster to be with my wife during her last few days.
On Aug. 4, I stopped by my MLA’s office to see if he could help me in any way after I had left three messages for him to get a hold of me with no success. At his office, I was told that he did not get any of my messages. I told him that I only had less than half a tank of gas left and only 29 cents in my bank account. He made a couple phone calls, one of which was to a social worker at Royal Columbian. After waiting for her return call, my MLA informed me he had to leave the office.
At this point, I lost my “cool” and went back to the vehicle to “cool down.” After sitting in my vehicle for about 15 minutes, his assistant came out and gave me a piece of paper that had a schedule of the transit system from Langley to Royal Columbian Hospital, which cost $4 one way.
When I got to the hospital, the social worker told me that the doctor wanted to talk to me, as my wife and I had talked about what each should do if either one ended up on life support. The doctor and I decided that it was time to end her life support, which I watched being done later on that night.
I am a 73-year-old senior who is very angry about the way our MLA handled my case. I got the impression he wasn’t interested in talking to me at all.
Yukon Eric Holopainen,
Hope, B.C.