Since when did working in a hospital environment become a “Culture of Entitlement”?  That was the title on the front page of our local newspaper yesterday.

Maybe it has always been that way.  I’m not sure.  I’ve never worked on the inside.

The paper also had the audacity to publish pictures of the people who are part of this culture.  Two of them recently lost their jobs and we never knew why.  A few also hold positions with titles that I have never heard of like “VP People, Systems and Processes”.  What is that…..VP of Human Resources?  Sounds like a fancy name to justify a large pay cheque. 

The recently-published “Peer Review Report” has slammed our hospital for overbuilding, overstaffing, over-promising, over-spending and totally un-delivering in local healthcare.

The article goes on to say that the hospital’s attitude has always been “oh well, the government will just give us more money if we need it.”  No they won’t.  The government has just caught on and is calling them on it.  The buck has definitely stopped here.

Now people are going to lose their jobs…..the usual group consisting mostly of nurses…..and beds are going to be cut.  What else is new?  That is always the only solution that anyone can ever come up with when the hospitals are in a crisis situation. 

I have known many wonderful nurses over the years but they certainly never acted as if their noses were higher in the air than mine.  They were also not in the elite 6-figure club but certainly should have been.  I don’t have the strength or stamina to do what they accomplish on a regular day.  They are saints for what they get done and put up with.

I have some ideas.  For starters, how about eliminating that VP position with the unrecognizable title?  There are likely a few more of them that could be done away with too.  Mind you, I lost my job once and it wasn’t fun so I don’t wish that on anybody.

On another page in the same paper, there was an editorial about how the community has really stepped up, on several occasions, with their fundraising efforts.  The hospital once asked for $10M and we gave them $13M.  They asked for the same amount a second time and we gave them even more.  The thanks we get now is having to lay on a stretcher in Emerg for 4 days waiting for a bed.  This happened to a member of our family recently so we have first-hand experience.

As the article goes on, it also talks about how the local population is not getting any younger.  Peterborough actually has the 2^nd highest senior population in all of Canada. It is expected to swell the corridors of the hospital even further as we age. 

The article ends with a question asking how we, the community, are going to step up and help our hospital.  Haven’t we done enough?

My response is easy and yours should be too.  I am going to save them some money and do my bit by staying out of there.  I am going to continue to take responsibility for my own health, to the best of my ability, so that it frees up room for people who really need it….children, seniors and trauma cases.  I refuse to be someone who abuses their body and then expects the system to fix me on demand.  I don’t count on it and neither should you because it just won’t happen.

Janet Woods is a Doctor of Natural Medicine practising in Peterborough and the Kawarthas