No care for you, unless you literally fall apart

My otherwise healthy 85-year-old husband was in constant pain for many months and waited over a year to see a surgeon regarding hip replacement surgery. At that point he was told that he would have to wait another year unless his hip ‘totally crumbled’. In that case, he would be moved to the top of the list. 

I was not surprised by this, as I had been following the steady decline of healthcare in Alberta. My husband was shocked that he would have to wait and would likely end up in a wheelchair very soon. 

I was relieved that he finally realized it would be much better to go somewhere else to have the surgery done sooner. I was happy when he chose  to go to Mexico rather than another Canadian province as I did not want to support the slippery slope to health care privatization in Canada. 

Within weeks we were in Puerto Vallarta and received excellent care from a top surgeon and a team of health professionals. My husband is recovering well, and I am grateful that we were able to afford to pay for health services, rather than suffer, and even die while waiting. Sadly, that is what is happening for many Albertans.