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Health care a core value

This is another level of health care that is gradually being diminished at the expense of the very people it is suppose to serve

I read, with dismay, that all employees of New Horizon Care Home, Campbell River are losing their jobs.

They have been told that they can reapply, so why are they losing their jobs to begin with? Call me old-fashioned, but in my working days, people lost their jobs for incompetence, a business requiring less staff due to a technical change or financial losses, an undisclosed criminal record, fraudulent or criminal activity.

As this didn’t apply here, were they all deemed expendable? Unless the facility is closing, they are obviously going to completely restaff the premise.

How can we just stand by and watch this happen to their employees?

This is another level of health care that is gradually being diminished at the expense of the very people it is suppose to serve. What does it feel like, as a resident, to be paying to stay at this facility and learn that the people you rely on to take care of your basic needs will be gone? No wonder many seniors resist going into a care home when they are no longer able to safely look after themselves. This is our future and it doesn’t look good.

What does health care and health services in Canada look like today? Expensive prescriptions, reduced staffing, long wait times for surgery, lack of hospital beds, not enough qualified health care providers, patients discharged from hospitals by taxi and dying on their doorsteps, lack of support for mental health patients.

We’re not a third world county. Health care is suppose to be one of the core values of our society. It should be a priority If we don’t protect health care services now, then when?

Valerie Stirling

Campbell River