I guess it may be stretching things to call a Shih Tzu a cute dog, but anyway…
An 88-year-old Saskatoon woman who flung herself between a charging pit bull and her puppy says she’s grateful to be alive.
Rose Jarmon was taking her Shih Tzu for a walk in the 1100 block of Avenue J South, west of the river, when the bigger dog broke through a fence and ran toward her dog.
Jarmon threw herself in front of the pit bull to save the Shih Tzu.
“My little puppy. That’s what I was thinking,” Jarmon said. “I didn’t care about me, I’m 88, so what the heck about me, but my puppy. He’s so cute.”
Jarmon’s neighbours quickly ran out to help and managed to pry the pit bull away from her.
The CBC story doesn’t say if the Shih Tzu subsequently survived, or if it defended its human owner. The owner of the vicious dog has been charged.
==
The Transformers, more than meets the eye. They also need to be left alone to cool, not just to avoid unwanted electrocution. And I’m not talking about the robots, in case you were wondering. Who the heck decorates their electrical transformers??? I’m pretty sure a grade 2 student would have more sense than whatever adults have done that.
==
I got my followup cardiac appointment Tuesday, after waiting since about November 2006. In Saskatoon the wait time for some cardiac diagnosis care, is about 2 years according to the technician who gave me an ECG today. 24 stinking months! One month is too long to wait, never mind 24 times that long. If so many people need health care, why aren’t we focusing enough resources and employment focus on the people who can help us quickly? Why isn’t the economy serving our needs?
- Long road ahead through Montana
@hotmail.com
![[EFC Blue Ribbon - Free Speech Online]](http://www.efc.ca/images/efcfreet.gif)
Nicole | 25-Jul-07 at 11:57 am | Permalink
yeesh! Hope your heart is A-OK!!!
I heard that the 88 yr old’s dog will be ok. I hope so. What a kind, sweet old lady. All pets deserve to have companions that love and care about them so much!
I am glad that the pitbull’s owner is facing charges. It is the irresponsible pet owners that end up giving dogs bad names.
Saskboy | 25-Jul-07 at 12:40 pm | Permalink
I won’t know anything about my heart for weeks I’m certain (unless I keel over first maybe, which is unlikely, but possible even for the completely normal and healthy)
Nicole | 25-Jul-07 at 12:56 pm | Permalink
Saskboy, not to scare you or even make light of this, but I am now legitly concerned for you.
# summers ago, a dear friend of mine dropped dead while on vacation at Tobin Lake (near Nipawin). He was fairly active, pretty fit, non smoker and he died a week after turning 37. he woke up that morning and didn’t feel right so declined going fishing and was dead several hours later.
His main artery to his heart was so blocked that blood couldn’t flow to his heart an dhe died of a major coronary attack.
I hope you really keep on them about this. I am also disgusted about the wait times. How is your mother handling this? I hope you are keeping your family informed too!!
ok…that was my motherly rant for the day ;-)
Saskboy | 25-Jul-07 at 1:02 pm | Permalink
I told them months ago last year after I got the first ultrasound. She just doesn’t want me telling the blog ;-)
mark | 25-Jul-07 at 1:51 pm | Permalink
I work in the private health care industry in Australia. Do you want to know the wait time for a nuclear medicine cardiac scan? Next day if you are willing to pay $63 out of pocket (the government funded medicare pays the other $900. When is Canada going to wake up and have a private health care system. This is one of the reasons I will never move back to Canada!
Rosie | 25-Jul-07 at 2:13 pm | Permalink
I think that some of those diagnostic thingies should be allowed to be privatized. Afterall, its the doctor that eventually sees them and judges them. For example, I got a bone scan done for “the hell of it” in that they were getting a new machine in our department and were training personel. I found out i have low bone density. When I scheduled an apt for another scan in NS 5 years later, i waited 18 months. Mind you it wasn’t acute or anything, but if that is any indication! To get a scan done at the U of A costs 75 bucks. I would be willing to pay that. Same with MRI;s and CT scans. Are they privatized? I guess the problem would be getting the specialist to look them over.
My beef is that if we do have privatized health care (even if at some level) then people expect government to pay for their expenses. I don’t agree with that. Its like the government giving the companies money while us po’ folks wait in line. If its going to be private, then the complete cost should come out of pocket. Free market, wha?
Jaybird | 26-Jul-07 at 9:52 am | Permalink
If people that had the money to pay went and payed then it would reduce the wait time for the people that can’t afford to…. I don’t see why everyone is afraid of private health care. Or is it more that people are afraid of it turning into an American health care system? which is crap
Saskboy | 26-Jul-07 at 10:43 am | Permalink
Americans, like Canadians, are blinded to the fact that there’s a civilized world outside of North America. Just because we become less like Canada’s current system, won’t mean we become more “American”. We could become more like France or England, or Australia, who have better ranked systems than we do. We may have “invented” the best form of medical care, but that was decades ago. It’s time to stop riding the coat tails of past glory, and build some new glory.
Jaybird | 26-Jul-07 at 10:54 am | Permalink
Saskboy, I would be all for a health care system like France/England/Australia…. and that was why I don’t understand why people are afraid of a change like that. Unfortunately the political parties tend to use the American system, as a part of their fear mongering, to make people believe that is what we would end up with even though it isn’t the case.
Josh | 26-Jul-07 at 2:01 pm | Permalink
I would be willing to pay that. Same with MRI;s and CT scans. Are they privatized? I guess the problem would be getting the specialist to look them over.
There are definitely private MRI clinics in NS. An immediate one that comes to mind is in Clayton Park at Lacewood and Dunbrack. In any case, private insurance for publicly insured procedures is certainly permitted in NS (and Sask!).