When I arrived in Lloydminster, I dove into the health beat, researching issues surrounding a bi-provincial healthcare agreement.
Although our community has grown exponentially, a new hospital is not in the works.
A study is being done to determine our hospital needs. We might get an expansion out of it. The community demands a laundry list of more permanent services. No one says its location is bad, or it’s not a good use of taxpayer dollars.
No matter your lifestyle choices, if you have a heart attack, you will be treated, usually within hours. Your life is considered in imminent danger, and the system is designed to help you.
It’s not this way for individuals suffering from mental health and addiction issues. The wait time for an individual who wants to get clean is weeks to months. Their life is in danger, just like the heart attack victim. The difference is that our system isn’t designed for the intricate, case-by-case comprehensive care needed.
Generally speaking, addicts only ask for help a few times when they want out. If the intervention isn’t there when they realize it, they will spend more healthcare dollars in a repeated cycle. I can hear the, “they’re addicts, sucks to be them.”
The hypocrisy, “rules for thee, not for me,” is rampant in Lloyd.
When extensive wrap-around services and an expansion for the less fortunate are discussed, everyone has reasons for it not to proceed.
Negative opinions are raised by many who would welcome expanded services for “normal people problems” at our hospital.
I even saw alleged threats of a “lighnting” strike at the current shelter to fix the problem.
It’s comical to me how people who demand more wrap-around services for the general public can’t understand how making a larger shelter does the same thing for the unhoused.
I owe my life to these types of services. The shelter wants wrap-around services to help people regain their lives.
It shouldn’t matter if your addiction is artery-clogging fatty foods and a lazy lifestyle or a prescription addiction. The system and supports should work the same.
A segment of this community can’t grasp these concepts. I hope they never have to live the way the people they blame them for everything they do.
It sucks for the unhoused who are put in the same bucket as the few bad apples by judgmental onlookers; it’s not the hand-up they need to get better. What is a hand-up is a bigger shelter—one that is better equipped, better staffed, and full of understanding. One that doesn’t judge and meets people where they are.
Alas, many individuals won’t ever understand. I didn’t once.
Life happens to everyone, but to say I can relate now, would be an understatement.
Read more: Opinion – Johnny Hockey of Canada
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