Today’s letters: We need more community health centers

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Dr. Alykhan Abdulla makes excellent comments. We have to fight to maintain our health care and for better quality. It is so true that many essential things have to be paid for now. The last respiratory flu virus vaccine cost me $278.

I have a disagreement with Dr. Abdulla. I believe politicians and policymakers must step forward to improve our primary health care for both providers and patients.

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The community health center model found in several locations in Ottawa and elsewhere features a team of salaried health and social service providers in an environment where health administrators handle paperwork and all staff take paid vacations. , maternity leave and pensions. Also, when one retires, another person is hired.

Many of my friends’ doctors are retiring, leaving them without care. I have been under the care of Centretown Community Health Center for over 50 years and received excellent care primarily from three family doctors, two of whom have retired and one is on maternity leave. The replacement for him is also fantastic.

Medical schools could attract more students to family medicine if they were informed that they could work in such pleasant environments. Policymakers have to fund many more of them, and they are cheaper than healthcare alone and much more convenient for doctors, nurses and patients.

Patty Deline, Ottawa

The system discourages doctors

Subject: Celebrate Doctors Fighting for Quality Health Care, April 30:

Thank you to Dr. Alykhan Abdulla for helping us recognize the commitment of doctors, especially those in family medicine. The struggle to serve a healthcare system that does not support them is a sacrifice that many choose not to make. We all lose.

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Lynn Pratt, Ottawa

Positive health experience

We always hear how insufficient our healthcare system is. Here is an example of how it works well.

Recently an optometrist found something unusual in one of my eyes and referred me to an ophthalmologist. His exam indicated a retinal problem and he sent me to a retinal specialist. The retina specialist found several tears in my retina and immediately treated me with laser. The three appointments took place within two weeks. The service with each doctor was excellent. I couldn’t have asked for more.

Thanks to all the doctors and their assistants.

Uwe Rutenberg, Ottawa

Newcomers know Canada can’t support them

If even newcomers have thought that the intake of 500,000 immigrants a year is too high, why not the Trudeau government?

New arrivals are having great trouble finding accommodation and family doctors, as six million Canadians lack one. Their children are in large classes at schools that are having trouble meeting demands. They are having serious problems feeding their families and purchasing other essential items due to inflation. And, of course, they have difficulty finding suitable jobs to pay their bills.

It is no surprise that, for the first time in living memory, many immigrants are fleeing Canada.

Larry Comeau, Ottawa

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