great letters (to the ottawa citizen) regarding the trucker convoy...

Truckers should work a shift in the ER

As an emergency nurse for more than 40 years, for the past 10 working as a geriatric emergency management nurse tasked with helping seniors stay in homes after they’re discharged from emergency, I find the “freedom fighters” and their support of the truckers coming to our city insulting and appalling.

I would like any of them and their supporters to spend a day in a hospital, especially in emergency. One morning last weekend, there were only four beds available in emergency, only one that was monitored. A discussion was had about who could come off a cardiac monitor. There were 42 admissions in emergency, virtually freezing our capacity to respond to the needs of our community, and blocking ambulance availability to unload their patients.

Entire wards are in lockdown due to the number of COVID patients so we are unable to admit patients to them. Due to an unprecedented staff shortage, anyone with support worker experience, managers of physiotherapy, social work. etc., are now assisting as PSWs.

We all pay taxes and should have equal access to healthcare, especially those currently held up for cancer diagnosis and treatment, need monitors, surgery, home care. We are all being held hostage for those who believe the “I” is more important than the “we.” I’m so glad our forefathers did not think that way.

Pamela Sheehan, RN, Ottawa

 Vaccines aren’t too much to ask

I am a staff physician in general internal medicine at The Ottawa Hospital. My colleagues and I provide care to the sick COVID patients not requiring ICU care. I manage one of the COVID teams at the General, taking care of a dozen patients myself.

About half of my patients are unvaccinated; the other half have had either two COVID vaccinations or three vaccinations but are immunocompromised. As a doctor who has seen hundreds of COVID patients, there is no doubt in my mind of the personal health benefit of vaccination. No rational, informed person could argue against it.

We have argued, fought and chastised about vaccinations for a year. I don’t know what can be said that has not already been said.

But I would like to tell one story to make a point. I admitted to hospital this weekend an elderly man, doubly vaccinated, with COVID. Unfortunate circumstances prevented him from getting his third shot. In June 1944, this man was among the first Canadian men to storm Juno Beach, in Normandy, on D Day.

I suspect he was afraid when he went to war. I suspect he thought about his health, his life, his family. I bet he weighed these emotions and misgivings against his responsibilities as a member of society. He might have questioned and struggled emotionally, but he chose to do the right thing for his friends, neighbours and society. He was willing to sacrifice everything to do the right thing.

By comparison we ask so little of our citizens today. Pay taxes. Obey the law. Get a vaccine to help us all.  Maybe the unvaccinated should consider my patient’s heroism.

Steve Kravcik, MD FRCPC, Ottawa

Vaccination is still a choice

I have no sympathy for the truckers driving across Canada to protest the vaccine requirement for trans-border trips. I do have sympathy for entrepreneurs and staff at businesses that are suffering because of shutdowns and pandemic related requirements. They have no choice. Truckers have a choice.

You cannot enter a construction site without a hard hat and safety boots, you cannot smoke near flammable equipment or oxygen sources, you are required to wear seat belts in your automobile. Most rational people understand this, and act accordingly. The majority of truckers are vaccinated and continue to work in their profession. The trucking industry is not shut down, it continues to provide a valuable and necessary service across Canada.

We are all tired of the pandemic and the restrictions and difficulties that it has caused. We do not need a loud obnoxious crowd of entitled individuals clogging our highways. I am sure they will be joined by the other protesters who continue to harass and protest outside hospitals and health care facilities. They are not representative of the majority of Canadians who have made the choice to respect each other and society by getting vaccinated.

I understand that millions of dollars has been raised to support the cost of this protest. This money could be more usefully used to help out those who have had no choice about their employment status. I am tired of COVID; but I am more tired of loudmouthed individuals who have no regard for the health and safety of their fellow citizens.

Cyril Jennings, Orleans