Maybe I have just lived too long, I don’t know, but really what is happening in our world today, is sad & frightening. Not the Terrorism that is going on, Not the natural diseasters either, and not even the slumping economy is what I am talking about.

IT IS THE CHANGE IN VALUES, IN ETHICS, IN HUMANITY.

Thanks to the type of leadership the world is now enjoying, from Bill Clinton, George Bush, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Brian Mulroney, and Stephen Harper, we have seen the complete erosion of our values. The Religious Right may spout all they want about ‘old time values’ but when it comes to actually doing what they say, it is a far cry from the old time values I grew up with.

VOTERS today don’t vote FOR a party, but instead have been convinced to VOTE AGAINST A PARTY.

That simply makes no sense to me, because it is what a party stands for, what it’s policies are, that should matter. It should not be about what the other guy may be like. YET that is exactly how WE are choosing our Governments today. 

I dislike Stephen Harper and his Conservatives, BASED ON THEIR PERFORMANCE, ON THEIR POLICIES.

AND that is how it should be. I cannot support any political party that is ignoring the needs of ALL CITIZENS, THAT PLACES CORPORATE INTERESTS OVER THOSE INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE.   Yet, to me, that is exactly what Stephen Harper is doing, and it has trickled down to even civic levels.

It is fine to have PRIDE in your country, but not at the expense of what BEING CANADIAN IS. Yet we have seen it in how the Media & Government have pushed that envelope, with the recent Winter Olympics.  And worse, we seem to have ignored the other areas of our National Pride, such as our Health Care.

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That is the claim by the British Columbia Health Minister, as his department issues memo after memo, to the various health agencies in the province, to cut their budgets.  Apparently the Minister is under the impression that Administrative Costs for various agencies, should be no more than 10%, which is a nice lofty goal.

“What Vancouver Coastal is doing is absolutely correct. They are saying to contract service providers that we are not going to fund administration and overhead costs beyond 10 per cent,” Falcon told the House. ( CBC News )

An interesting claim, really that the Minister would expect agencies that provide help, would have such a low administration cost. I mean what is the administration cost for the Royal Jubilee Hospital? Is it under his TEN PER CENT threshold?

Personally, I happen to agree that way too much money is being spent on Administration, such as the salaries for people like the head of VIHA here, but to expect them to cut their salaries, and not staff, is like expecting Stephen Harper to embrace same sex marriage, and the rights of anyone who is different.  IT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN.

Funny thing about this too, is that in order to be a registered charity, the administration costs cannot exceed 40%.  Yet here is the health minister, saying that agencies who provide health, have to be under 10%.   So let me see, raising money to send food relief to Africa can have administration costs 4 times higher than if they provide services for the sick at home?

The news is full of it here, today, about the announcement of deep cuts into the services being provided by VIHA (Vancouver Island Health Authority) which is responsible for the National Health Plan, for Vancouver Island. The cuts include more PRIVATIZATION OF SERVICES, FACILITIES, along with staff cuts, restrictions, and oh yeah, selling off of assets.

Things like cuts to how many MRI’s will be performed, is one thing, while now the Meals on Wheels program will see people, who got it for free, pay $6 a meal.

This is not a new issue, really, but since the rise to power of people like George W. Bush in the USA, and our own Stephen Harper, we have moved away from being a ETHICAL SOCIETY,  to one that is now driven by CORPORATE PROFITS.

Maybe that is a good thing, maybe not, but when a society ignores its obligation, to its people, removes its responsibilities to them, then it is no different than being a pack of wild animals. It becomes a jungle, where survival of the fittest, translates into survival of the richest.

It takes away a lot more too, because how can one maintain independence, when they are forced to struggle with just maintaining their health. And that too becomes even more difficult when we rely on trust, to insure our food supply and other essentials are not tainted. Yet, as Government moves from being ETHICAL to being PROFIT BASED, those areas of trust become weakened, become even dangerous.

Don’t believe me? Look at the number of recalls of food, PRIOR to the rise in power of Stepehn Harper & his profit driven party.  Then look at how, as he has dismantled our safety nets, the number of deaths and recalls, has risen.

Now we are also seeing it on a local level, where greed has replaced the need to protect the most vulnerable of our society, the sick and infirm, the elderly, the very young, and the poor.

There is a need to insure services are cost effective, but at the expense of providing those services? I DON’T THINK SO, BUT THEN, I BELIEVE IN VALUES AND ETHICS.

GUESS THOSE IN POWER NO LONGER DO.

It is rather odd, when you think about it. Here we have various political parties, that PRETEND to be based on the Christian Ethics & Values, and yet are the very same group that turns it’s back on the least fortunate in society. And the ‘less fortunate’ can be not just the homeless, or the one’s needing welfare, but those who simply don’t earn the six figure incomes.

How is that following the supposed ethics & values of Christianity?

Take Health Care. Many in the USA oppose a National Health Plan, simply because it can cost a lot, and also put many of them, in the back of the line.  See, National Health (in theory) is about getting treatment for those in need, not those who have the bucks to push ahead of the line. And the biggest opponents to National Health are the Republicans, and our Own Harper Conservatives.

I don’t like Government being into everything, but there are places where it is needed, because you see, business has one goal only, to MAKE MONEY AT ALL COSTS.  That generally translates into job cuts, hour reductions, or low wages. These days, it also includes cuts in side benefits, such as health coverage.

Yet I don’t see any Drug Company dropping it’s prices, nor do I see any of the major drug companies hurting for profits either. In fact, they seem to have a lot of cash floating around, to buy ads and give out free samples to Doctors. Yet, the prices keep going up, unless of course you are buying some hard on drug like Cialis or Viagra.

I suppose my beef is not really with those companies that do offer such benefits, then cut them, but with a Government whose obligation is to protect our National Health Plan, but do so, by making their own insidious cuts. They will cover this, but not that, or they will cover it for a small period of time, then you are on your own.   THAT SIMPLY IS WRONG.

Thing is, with a workforce that is free from worry about health, about paying for medicine, we do get a huge benefit. We have people who can do their job, free of that constant worry, which means they do their job better, quicker, and yes, more effeciently.

SAD AT HOW WE IGNORE THAT, ALL SO WE CAN SAVE A DOLLAR

Who are they? 

I haven’t a clue really, but they are the firm contracted by the Government of British Columbia, to provide in home support for elderly people. You know, the workers who come in to help a person get a bath, get dressed if they can’t do it.  Depending on your income level, the services are paid for by the Government.

This is the case with my 92 year old mother, Annice.

For some time now, we have had them send someone to help her wash up, twice a week. Every Tuesday & Friday. The permanent worker on Friday, was super, and Mom looked forward to her arrival. She was good, knew her job and did it well. The one’s showing up Tuesday were a bit less than ideal, but on July 14th, things got more complicated.

Mother broke her wrist in a fall in the home.

At the Royal Jubilee Hospital, the community laison worker suggested we get home support in for the mornings and night, to help mom dress & get ready for bed. It was a helpful suggestion, because frankly, a woman of 92 with a cast, isn’t going to do all that on her own. She is frail as it is.

And that worked out good. Each morning, someone has shown up and helped, at night the same thing. Today was bath day, and Mom was once again looking forward to Wanda coming, to help her afternoon bath.  Eager is the word I’d use, because as a son, I can only do so much. A woman’s touch, voice, all helps.

1:30pm and NO Wanda.

In contacting the people at Beacon, they claim the service was cancelled. Like isn’t that nice to suddenly find out. A phone call would have hurt?  But hey, it gets worse, because they say it was cancelled by the Hospital Laison worker.  In reading me the notes of the call, there is NO MENTION of such cancellation. Nor did I instruct the laison officer to make any such cancellation.

In the meantime, I also find out that each worker is supposed to be here for an hour, and that it is for 2 weeks only. So that is interesting, given that I would expect a 92 year old to heal in 2 weeks from a displaced fracture of her wrist.  After all, don’t us younger folks heal faster? Bet if you broke your wrist, you’d be able to use it in what, a few days, week tops?  NOT!

There is a community case worker as well, who I was in touch with on Wednesday, the day after the experience at the hospital. Strange, but no return call from her either, as she was going to check with the hospital laison worker, and get back to me. And yes, I know they are busy, but this is now Friday.  Enough time to call to say she is working on it, or something.

But then again, maybe not, given that her voice message today, said she’d be out of the office July 10 to July 13.  Funny, today is July 17th. You would think, that any service being cancelled would be made known to the client. And that too, irks me. Why are they calling them clients, when they are patients? So it is easier to disassociate one’s self from the fact that these are elderly people, who need compassion, as well as care?

Elderly people have trouble enough maintaining their dignity. Now here comes the B.C. Government and foists its care of elders, onto a private firm, whose bottom line is, to make money. That is so wrong, in so many ways, that I won’t even begin to detail it, yet.

Fact is, that Beacon Community Services made an assumption, or if they didn’t, then the Laison worker did, who doesnt have her case history. I rather doubt that a Laison Officer in the hospital even has the authority to cancel existing services, unless the patient is being admitted to hospital. So to my warped mind and some common sense, the problem is at Beacon.  Naturally they won’t admit to that.

Reality is, that our society today doesn’t seem to give a damn about the older generation, and the real problem is, WE ARE ALL GOING TO BE OLDER, THINK ABOUT IT.