Manitoba woman waiting for hip surgery calls health minister's thoughts and prayers 'useless'
CBC
A Winnipeg woman facing an 26-month wait for hip surgery had a blunt response to Manitoba Health Minister Audrey Gordon's offer of "thoughts and prayers" to people whose medical procedure have been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Thoughts and prayers are useless for me," said Allison Marion.
The 67-year-old suffers from osteoarthritis, which causes her great pain while doing everyday activities like showering or cooking meals.
Health officials told her it would be eight months before she could see a surgical consultant, and another 18 months after that before she could get the surgery.
Thoughts and prayers do nothing to reduce Marion's pain — for which she takes prescribed Tylenol 3 up to six times a day — or shorten her wait for surgery.
"It's not going to get me on the [surgery] list any sooner. It's not going to make me stop taking Tylenol. It's not going to make me have a nice long hot shower or a bath.
"Half the time I don't even sleep on my own bed because it's too uncomfortable. So thoughts and prayers are useless for me," Marion said.
After announcing last week that more surgeries would have to be postponed to increase intensive care capacity in the wake of rising COVID-19 numbers, Gordon said on Monday she empathized with people impacted by the decision.
"My thoughts and prayers are with you and any family member or friend or relative you have that is experiencing their surgery being postponed or their diagnostic test," Gordon said after a news conference on Monday.
There are currently 146 Manitobans in hospital with COVID-19, including 31 in intensive care, the province said in a news release.
Meanwhile, there are 130,000 people waiting for surgeries and diagnostic procedures because of the pandemic, Doctors Manitoba has said.
Of those, 52,000 are surgeries, 41,000 are diagnostic imaging procedures (like MRIs, CAT scans and ultrasounds) and 35,000 are other procedures, like endoscopies, mammograms and allergy tests, the organization said.
Premier Heather Stefanson promised to create a task force to deal with the backlog, but on Monday Gordon announced that task force won't begin working until after Stefanson's throne speech on Nov. 23.
The province committed $50 million to addressing postponed medical procedures in its budget for the year, and some of that money will go toward the task force, Gordon said.
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