sates, eerie

sor it;

National

an ever press

problem

health

By GEGRGE DRAYTON

4

The writer, well known to many workers across

- Canada, is a veteran of World War 1, and also a

veteran in the trade union movement of Canada.

Long months of illness has compelled him to ‘ease

up in labor activity. The following article, written

from first hand experience, indicates those prob-
lems of national health which are of vital concern

to all working people.

Anyone

imterested in labor’s Campaign for National

Health Insurance would do well to study the free medical
services now being given to ex-members of the Armed

Forces in Canada.

Every ex-member of the forces of

World War II is entitled to this free treatment up to one
year after discharge. Veterans of the First Great War and

who have a disability are also
entitled to treatment for any ag-
gravation of their pensionable
disability or if they are incapac-
itated by any complications of
their conditions. The writer has
just completed six months of
this free treatment in Shaugh-
nessy Hospital and was able to
gain an insight into the benefits
and how beneficiai it
would be to the working class
of Canada were it extended in
the form of Health Insurance.

This is how it works. Let us
take the case of Private X. He
Was an infantryman in the re-
cent war and served in Italy,
Holland, etc. He has a wife and
three kids. He was discharged
honorably and medically fit.
Three months after discharge
his back began to bother him,
and his ankles swelled after be-
ing on his feet all day. He re
ports to Shaughnessy Hospital
for examination. After waiting
in line for several hours he was
interviewed by a doctor and
advised to come into the hospi-
tal. He was put to bed and a
nursing sister took his temper-
ature and his pulsation. Wext
day the ward doctor interviewed
him and wrote down his medi-
cal history from birth, cause of
his mother’s and father’s death,
the health record of his broth-
ers and sisters, ete.

The doctor now gets out his
tool bag and takes his blood
pressure, Beart action, respira-
tion, knocks his knees with a
hammer to determine his nerv-
ous reaction, and examines his
throat and eyes. He prescribes
an appropriate diet and issues
a requisition on the lab for
urine analysis for albumen, su-
far, casts and specific gravity.
The patient's liquid intake and
output is carefully measured
over a period of two or three
weeks, :

About this time the patient
complains of a sore throat. This
is investigated for some time
and eventually he is given a
few days’ penecillin injections
and slated for tonsils removal.
He is transferred to the surgi-
Cal ward for a few days and
When there are four or five
Patients, the surgeon who is
slick at snipping out tonsils goes
to work. After a few days he is
returned to. the medical ward
and treated with the only known
remedy for nephritis, diet and
rest.

The patient is young and his
PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 11

mind is active. And so he is
interviewed by one of the occu-
pational therapists. It is decid-
€d he will take up typing and
bookkeeping. Two orderlies
wheel him in bed to the school
each afternoon. In the afternoon
they wheel him onto the roof
for sun-bathing, and in the eve-
hing they wheel him down to
the picture show or concert in
the auditorium. The Red Gross
distribute cigarettes, candy,
fruit, reading and writing ma-
terial each week as do the Le-
gion and Army and Navy Vets.
There is a library of 1,000 vol-

ecommend to
what
pension he is
entitled to. Ot-
ltawa has the
last word. (In
passing I would
= like to advise
George Drayton any young vet-
erans so placed as the above,
not to get sore and send the
cheque back to Ottawa if you
consider it too low. Even if it
is only $3.50 a month, take it.
It may be the- means of your
entering hospital some other
time.). In the meantime the
above patient is receiving full
army pay and allowances for
himself, wife, and three chil-
dren, :

OW let us take the case of

Private Z. He is an ex-member
of the first war. He is 57 and
single. He has a permanent dis-
ability of 10 percent since 1918.
But for years it has not bothered
him much. After working for
years in all kinds of weather
and with several years of unem-
ployment, living on hamburgers
and ‘coffee ands,’ he finally be-
comes sick. He hates to go
into hospital because he has a
natural dislike for all capitalist
institutions, He tries Dr. Quacks
Wonder Syrup and Victory Va-
por Rub, but its no go. He has
to enter the den of capitalist
exploiters. He is advised by
some veterans in the know to
report to the Administration
building at Shaughnessy, bright

TB X-ray unit; great progress has been made. in this and other fields of health re-.
the facilities still lag far behind the need. National health

search and prevention, but

can only be assured when it becomes a first charge on the State with the

motive” eliminated.

and early, which he does, After
being registered he is told to
sit and wait his turn. He waits
tili noon when he is given a
ticket to eat lunch in the main
dining hail. After lunch he goes
back to wait and fume against
the haywire organization of all
government institutions, red tape
and brass hats. A couple of air-
force men agree with him and
this goes on till 3:30 when his
name his called to be interview-
ed by a doctor.

By this time his blood pres-
sure is quite high and he lays

it on good:and thick to the

Sawbones. He tells him that his
back his sore. chest is sore, his
tieker is on the bum and he has
a@ chronic cough. The doctor di-
gests this, and looking the pa-
tient square in the eye drawis,
“Yes, I think it will be advis-
able for you to come into the
hospital otherwise you would
be coming up here every day
for Xray, blood count, cardio-
@raph and so on.” And so Pri-
vate Z enters the hospital for
free. treatment and goes thru
the same procedure as Private
“except for more elaborate
tests and nursing.

In six months of treatment
this veteran has had 20 ray
Pietures taken, five electro-cardi-
graphs of his heart action,
about 30 blood counts, numerous
analysis of urine, sputum, and
one of spinal fluid, besides a
couple of liquid X-rays, If this
patient had been a shipyard

High wages

off” under capitalism.

The cause of higher prices
and inflation is the extortionate
profit to which the trusts have
become accustomed during the
war. The failure to hold profits
down, as President Roosevelt
sought to do but was overruled
by Congress gave the monopo-
lies-a free hand in their black-
mail of the government on mu-
nition prices.

The food and clothing com-
panies, not to be outdone by
the metal, machinery, ship-
building and other arms build-
ers, zoomed their prices and
profits, even higher. The form-
er at least bound to some price
control because the government
was their sole customer. But
the latter, was bound by no
prefit control and price control
was weak. Their high profits
hit the consuming public direct-
ly.

With the war over, the trusts
were determined~to keep up the
new high in profits they achiev-
€d on peacetime goods. As their
major move in that direction
they engaged in a nationwide
production sitdown to: (1) force
an end of price controls; (2)
continue the scarcity of goods
and hunger for it; (3) to hold
out against paying workers a
wage increase due them on war-
time losses in purchasing power.

e

worker with no time spent in
the armed forces he would have
had to pay anywhere from 1,-
500 to $2,000 for this treatment
to date and he is not finished
yet by any means. Besides the
above treatment and nursing
there were 4 or five consulta-
tions with heart specialists, sur-
geons, diagnosis experts and with
one of the best chest -special-
ists and radiologists who is at
present in charge of radiology
the VGH. In private life when
your family doctor leads you
to one of these boys it means
at least $25 and perhaps $50.

Private Z is thus very for-
tunate to obtain this health
treatment, but that isn’t all. The
government pays him at the
Tate of a full pension—$75 a
month while sick. He receives
whilst in hospital $10 per
month spending money. He is

charged $15 2 month for
board and $50 is deposited
in the office till he is  dis-

charged, when he receives his
Stake. Of course’ the board is
worth much more, and the fun-
ny part of it is that when he
becomes an out-patient he is al-
lowed a $1.20 a day for board.

iE} two medical cases cited
above are typical of 2,500
Cases in Shaughnessy, In regard
to criticism of the personnel, It
is entirely unjustified. I beefed,
too, but TI found out I didn’t
know what I was talking about.
In regard to getting’ admitted;
how can the hospital tell wheth-
er, 10 soldiers will report’ there
tomorrow morning of 200. Sec-
ondly there is a shortage of
doctors. Perhaps the morning
when there is a record attend-
ance for admittance is just the
morning when a number of per-
plexing cases are being dis-
cussed by a gathering of. 20
doctors. This conference may
last three hours, and it may be
important to some of the pa-
tients. I have known of three
doctors working for seyen hours
at the operating table cutting
out a cancer from a man’s
stomach. They then went for a
cup of coffee and an ex-sailor
Passing remarked: “I’ye been
waiting three hours to see that
guy, and there he is mugging
up, 2 hell of a lot he cares
about me.”

Nursing sisters work 12 hours
a day. It must be trying to say
the least after working on your
feet for 11 hours and then smile
when some cranky patient calls
eriticism at you that amounts
to insult, and then to say, “The
poor boy is feeling miserable
tonight” and then proceed to
pacify him and straighten his
Pillows and make him comfort-
able,

Private Z didn’t see his ward
doctor for five days and asked
the nurse “Where is that BUNieee
She expained’' that he Was at-

tending his brother’s funeral.

“profit

She said, “Do you know how
many patients Dr. W. has?—50.”
Fie looked at the nurse for a
moment and said, “Are you ali
right, sister, or have you had
a shot in the arm?” But the
sister swore it was true. As of
July 18 there were $0 patients
waiting to come in for opera-
tions. And 300 are waiting for
a bed,

Veterans have this free sServ-
ice. - Why noc other workers?
Now is the time to press for
Health Insurance, Hundreds of
young ex-army doctors would
welcome it, In the army these
young doctors of middle class
families have become quite de.
mocratized and would far soon-

~ er work in hospitals than set up

2 private practice Where they
have to Curry influence in order
to get the best Paying patients,

A wonderful Summer activity
for boys and girls, under expert,
fully qualifieq instructors!

@
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1946