More disappointment

Dear editor:
Reading the letter last week from Martin Booth on the care he and his wife received in Rainycrest promoted me to write.
My sister and I lost our father, Harold Lucas, in the early part of March, where he had been in and out of hospital several times due to his heart.
There were many times he would call me (living in Nestor Falls) to tell me he asked for a Tylenol one-and-a-half hours ago for pain and still never received the medicine. He hated to bother the nurses all the time, knowing how busy they are, to remind them. This happened many times.
If it weren’t for my sister coming over from Ranier, Mn. every night to take care of his needs, and I driving in three-four times a week from Nestor Falls, and finding a sitter for my children to take care of his extra needs and to give my sister a break, he would have gone insane.
There were many times he would just ask for some ice or a drink of juice and it would come at least an hour later. It wasn’t until we put him in a private room and paid the $100 a night fee that he got more attention.
He did not deserve this, and neither does anyone else.
There are too many cutbacks and too much paper work. Those nurses work their butts off, and long shifts. They, too, need a break, and it’s not their fault for the crappy service in our hospitals and old folks home.
What happened to nurses just coming in to visit with a patient who was uptight about something? You rarely see them have the time to be a nurse other than for medical reasons. Even the doctors are overloaded with their time, and it’s hard to get in touch with them, too, or they return your call several days later (in an emergency situation this is not good).
For as many doctors we have for this community, I have seen communities with even less doctors. These medical field people have lives, too. The government needs to smarten up and give the patients and hospital workers the life they need.
And now we pay for added extras but we still get the same treatment. It isn’t fair, and yes I know . . . life isn’t fair.
Signed a second
disappointed person,
Joanne Cottam