Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

Sask. Transportation Company is the Crown owned bus line in Saskatchewan, and it has traditionally for many years lost money when moving people.  This prompts calls all the time to shut it down, but the reality is there isn’t a good alternative to it.  Either we have one company making provincial travel affordable and possible, or we’ll have dozens of uncoordinated bus lines that will make it next to impossible to get from Pelly to Climax by bus.

Last Summer STC offered a pass to youth 25 and under, which I bought for $75 and gave unlimited rides between set dates.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the company saw an increased ridership of 3.6%, which is their first increase in 16 years.  STC would be foolish not to offer the Summer pass again this year, although I’d hope they offer it to all adults and up the price if they feel it will need to cost more to cover the price of deisel.

STC is also next month going to start using biodiesel in 2% of their total diesel, which ought to help a plant in Foam Lake.
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Ralph Goodale has ruined my prediction of the next PM of Canada by announcing he won’t run for Liberal leader.  Vous pas francais, eh?

Michael Ignatieff was on CKOM.com at lunch time speaking with Gormley.  Gormley nearly gushs about the guy, so there might be something wrong with him, but he seemed reasonable in the short clip I heard.

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The media storm is rising in SK, where a cancer patient was told to WAIT 3 months for treatment.  I’m sorry, but cancer treatment is a medical emergency, and it’s inexcusable to tell someone suffering from a potentially fatal yet sometimes curable illness to wait more than a day for treatment or diagnosis to start. This one patient got an appointment for next week, but what happens to the person she had to bump from line?  And if there was always room in the line, why are we leaving days open for critical treatments like cancer?  Why doesn’t society place a higher priority on medical treatment than we do on checking items out of a supermarket store?  If we have to wait 2 minutes in line we pull our hair out at Walmart or Superstore, but we’ll wait months or years for medical checks!

I spoke with someone today who knows a lady who waited TWO YEARS to have both knees repaired by a specific doctor they were willing to wait for.  Joint surgery is another medical case where if someone doesn’t get repaired soon after being injured, they’ll have to re-arrange their life to get through every day.  How would you like to be told that you’ll be living in pain, in a wheelchair for the next 18 months, but if there were enough doctors [or you had tens of thousands of dollars to go to the USA] then you’d be walking pain free in a couple of weeks?  Deferred treatment is mistreatment, and if our medical system can’t handle routine cases, then how can it cope with an influx of emergencies?

To a great extent, our health determines where and how we can live our life.  Healthy people don’t realize how care free they are until they break a bone, or suffer a major illness and have to change their diet, transportation, or attitude toward their lifestyle.  I didn’t realize until last year how hard it was to get medical test results, or how to get treatment.  If your illness isn’t blaringly obvious to your family doctor, then it could be weeks before a serious problem is even identified, while you wait for a specialist.  And if it’s something bad enough to go to a doctor for, it’s usually pretty bad, and should be treated quickly. At least I don’t tend to go to the doctor for every sniffle or paper cut.

One person on CJME radio put it well: ‘People in Saskatchewan are too meek, they don’t learn how to look out for their own health and expect their doctor to do everything for them.”  I agree, and I used to be meek, mostly because there’s not any kind of lesson in school about what a doctor is expected to do, and what a patient is expected to do for their treatment, so if you don’t have a chatty doctor then you can go through life being totally clueless about your health picture.  Did you know that if you want to get your lab results sooner, you have to phone your doctor, or even the lab?  I had to phone more than once last year, because it seems only the squeaky wheel gets treated with any urgency.  It’s how the cancer patient who set off this latest debate got a realistic appointment - her family protested at the Legislature in Regina, and created enough noise to be dealt with. If you’re sick, and told you have to wait - don’t wait. Be polite, but firm, and check every day with your doctor, and if they won’t help then another doctor until finally you are helped.

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Greene gone from Gainerville

Nealon Greene, the ineffective quarterback for the Sask. Riders has been traded to Montreal.  Nealon would have good games, and not very good games. I wondered how he could be so unprepared some days. Hopefully he continues his rocky performance for Montreal.