I have lived in three provinces. Canada’s health care is universal
This first-person column is the experience of Shannon Fleeman, who lives in Red Deer, Alta. For more information on CBC’s first-person stories, please visit View FAQ.
After a few difficult years in my personal life, I decided to pack my bags and move from Regina, where I was born and raised my daughter, to Kelowna, BC. This move felt like an opportunity for healing and growth.
I secured a lovely place to live and checked other boxes that must be done when relocating. Changing my driver’s license provided me with a BC Health Card.
In Saskatchewan, I had a family doctor. Even though sometimes I had to wait up to a month to get an appointment with them, I felt like I had the safety net that I have as someone who has lived with anxiety disorders my whole life.
As a Canadian moving to another province, I assumed that access to health care would stay with me wherever I lived.
But after arriving in the Okanagan in 2021, I was disappointed to learn that no family doctors were accepting new patients. I searched in all directions for 100 kilometers from Kelowna and could not find a single doctor taking new patients.
I soon realized how serious a medical shortage there was in the Okanagan.
I was told I would be placed on a waiting list that could be years long and that I would be notified if a family doctor became available. In the meantime, I have to rely on walk-in clinics for any prescriptions or medical problems.
There were two big problems in this. First of all, most of the walk-ins I visited reached capacity within an hour of opening. Second, when I finally got an appointment with the walk-in doctor, I was told that only my family doctor could refill my anxiety medication. Which family doctor?
A recent report from the Canadian Medical Association Found that 5.8 million Canadians do not have access to primary care. Even those who have family doctors say they do not have adequate access to them.
My only option was to go to an urgent care center. It’s a walk-in clinic that bridges the gap between primary care and emergency rooms in BC
Since I was not in any active emergency, I was at the bottom of the waiting list and waited several hours at the urgent care to get my monthly prescription.
After spending about a year in Kelowna, I asked during one of my visits how I could get a Pap test and some basic blood tests – things I could get through a family doctor, if only I had a doctor.
I’ve always advocated for my own health care, so asking didn’t make me uncomfortable. The nurse’s reaction made me uncomfortable. He explained that the center is for urgent care and not preventive care.
I was made to feel as if I was asking too much. But how can a person without a family doctor be expected to access basic preventive medical care? Eventually, the nurse reluctantly booked a Pap test for me after I told her she had had an abnormal Pap test in the past. I left that day feeling humiliated and worthless.
It became clear to me that universal health care in Canada doesn’t work universally when you don’t have a family doctor. Although care may theoretically exist, without a family doctor, care is inconsistent.
More Canadians have a family doctor than three years ago, but big gaps remain in access to timely or routine care, a new survey shows.
This experience also shed light on a larger systemic issue. When people don’t have access to family doctors, they are pushed into emergency rooms and urgent care centers for non-emergency needs. This contributes to overcrowding and long ER wait times.
After two years, I relocated to Central Alberta to be closer to family through my work. To my surprise, I was able to find a family doctor within a few weeks – in fact several doctors I liked.
My new doctor in Red Deer, Alta., completed a thorough medical history and took my concerns seriously. She noted the risk of breast cancer in my family and requested a mammogram for early detection. My appointment was booked within a few weeks. He also referred me to two other specialists, both of whom I saw immediately and who continued to meet with me regularly.
Without a family doctor, I do not believe I would have received such skilled medical care to streamline my health care.
Still, I thank my lucky stars I didn’t need emergency services in Alberta. I have read news reports that The emergency room in my city is stressed and patients are being transferred to Edmonton – Assuming there’s room for them in those hospitals. Doctors in Alberta have called on the province declare a state of emergency Emergency rooms are being overwhelmed by overcrowding. across the country, it’s the same picture.
I worry when this pressure of overcrowding will reach primary care.
When I talk to friends and family in Saskatchewan, I learn that their medical system is also under strain, similar to what I experienced in BC.
My former family doctor in Regina, who is my daughter’s doctor, sent out notice to close his clinic, affecting 5,000 patients. She has not yet been able to secure a new family doctor, putting her at risk of receiving the same fragmented care I received in Kelowna.
Canada’s health care system is often praised for being universal, yet my experiences in S4X, V1Y and T4P suggest otherwise. After living in three cities in three provinces for five years, I noticed how my geographic location changed not only my postal code.
It also affected the type and quality of health care I received. Moving forward, I hope to use my voice to advocate not just for myself, but for a system that truly works for all Canadians.
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