A draft Health P.E.I. operation guide that proposes full-time family physicians have a patient load of 1,600 suggests this would work out to 24 patient visits per day, with average appointment times of 15 minutes each. Photo by The Canadian Federation of Nurses UnionsArticle contentMost people who have experienced a health episode in Prince Edward Island — even if the outcomes are negative — have nothing but praise for how well they were treated.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle contentYear after year, the newsroom receives letters to the editor from grateful patients or their family members who feel compelled to express the competence and care exhibited by those they encountered in Island hospitals and health centres.Article contentArticle contentArticle contentEvery year, too, hospital foundations have fundraising drives where there are no shortage of testimonials about the quality of P.E.I.’s health workers.Article contentArticle contentIn May, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation in Charlottetown raised $1 million on its Big Day of Giving. Ahead of the event, Stratford resident Jenny McKinnon told The Guardian how the labour and delivery staff and the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the QEH saved her life during her first pregnancy and the lives of her sons, who were both born premature two years apart.Article content“Honestly, the care we received (both times) was second to none. This time it was like we were going back to our family in the NICU,” she said, adding later in the interview, “That whole first year was holding your breath. They saved our boy’s life, and labour and delivery saved my life.”Article contentArticle contentArticle contentEven the food was goodArticle contentArticle contentArticle contentA month earlier, Georgina Fitzgerald was visiting from Ottawa when she was suddenly ill. She wrote about it in a letter to the editor that ran last week.Article content“The paramedics in the ambulance which took me to the hospital were so pleasant that the stress I was feeling declined further. At the hospital the doctors and nurses in emergency where I spent several days followed by the doctors and nurses on the first floor ward where I spent another few days provided excellent care. Even the food was good,” she wrote.Article content“All the health-care professionals I met during my medical event in P.E.I. were competent and kind. You have reason to be proud.”Article contentI can’t say I agree with Fitzgerald’s assessment of the culinary offerings during my own experiences in the hospital, but it is amazing how cheerful, unrushed and genuinely interested in their patients’ comfort the workers seemed in a workplace that sees crisis after crisis and never has enough staff. I could say the same thing about the newsroom sometimes, but at least we’re not trying to save anyone’s lives. Not directly, anyway.
JOCELYNE LLOYD: Care seems to be missing P.E.I.’s health bureaucracy
