Dr. Albert Schumacher is in the habit of turning fundraising dinners inside out and upside down.
Stepping out from behind the podium at the front of a room in Calgary's swanky Glencoe Club, the former president of the Canadian and Ontario medical associations pulled a thick wad of cash out of his pocket, started peeling off 10 and 20 dollar bills and passing them out to many of the very people who had paid to hear him speak.
Schumacher kicked off a cross-country tour with the National Citizens Coalition earlier this week called, Face the Facts: Help Cure Canada's Healthcare.
"How many of you have had a letter to the editor published in a major Canadian daily newspaper in the last 12 months?" he asked at the beginning of his talk. No one in the room of about 40 raised their hands.
Then he asked how many in the room had met with either their provincial or federal elected representative in their constituency office in the last year. There was a considerable show of hands and each person was handed anywhere from $5 to $20.
More cash was circulated to those who had written at least three notes in the last month to congratulate or thank someone for what they have done or contributed.
By the end of the exercise, Schumacher, a family physician from Windsor, Ont., had handed out $140 of his own money.
His point? In Canada, the health care debate is dominated by the squeaky wheel minority while the silent majority live up to their name and remain oddly silent. He wants to change that.
"Those are some of the things you can do in Canada to help advocate for a better future," says Schumacher, who then launched into explaining how quickly Canada's lofty position of once having the best health care system in the world has since plummetted to 30th when compared to other industrialized nations, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
While Canadians' spend more on a per capita basis than most Europeans on health care, we have far fewer doctors -- 2.1 per 1,000 population which is far below the average in Europe where there is an average of three physicians per 1,000 citizens.
"Nowadays one in 10 Canadians -- 10% -- 3.1 million people don't have access to a family doctor and in our system, if you don't have access to a family doctor it's very hard to get access to see a specialist," says Schumacher.
Of course, even with a family doctor's referral, it often takes months just to see a specialist and then many months more -- to receive treatment if required which often leads to lack of productivity and long-term disability for those involved.
And things continue to get worse even though most provinces are spending 40% of their budgets on health care and some are projecting that could rise to 70% in 25 years as our population ages and medicine grows every more sophisticated.
As a result, Canadians spent about $1 billion of their own money seeking medical care in the U.S.
Peter Coleman, president of the NCC, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, says predictably, just by presenting the facts in these meetings, he and the organization are accused of trying to dismantle universal health care and impose a U.S.-style, health care system.
"What has amazed me most in these town hall meetings is that those who want to keep the status quo do nothing but attack and argue, when all we are doing is stating the facts and realities about our current system."
Today the tour hits Saskatchewan, birthplace of medicare. Coleman is expecting more attacks that he and Schumacher will respond to with facts.
Like the dinner, Schumacher hopes to turn the level of debate in this country upside down and into the realm of sanity. |
