Editor:
An open letter to Michael MacMillian, premier Christy Clarke, MLA John Rustad, the Lakes District Health Advisory Committee and MP Nathan Cullen.
I am a 17 year old Lakes District Secondary School student. A little over a year ago I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Since then I have been forced to try various drug regimens which usually last about three to six months a piece, before the drug is proven unsuccessful and I am put on the next drug which is slightly more expensive.
Currently I take 11 pills a day.
These medications give me no relief from the constant pain but they do give me hair loss, nausea, constant fatigue, stomach ulcers, swelling in every joint to the point which I can barely walk let alone pursue my passion for dance and a compromised immune system which will leave me in bed for a week from a common cold.
All of this in an attempt to rule out all the cheaper drugs in order to qualify for the proven but expensive treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis.
During this time I have been under the care of a rheumatologist from Vancouver who is supposed to work with my family doctor - who has changed three times in the last 15 months of living with this disease.
My rheumatologist has had difficulty getting the results of my blood work I have done every two weeks as a result of having an ever changing family doctor.
In an attempt to find some stability and get a doctor that I can count on for more than four months, my mother and I recently contacted the Fraser Lake Medical Clinic and we were told that they were not allowed to see anyone who had seen a doctor in Burns Lake.
Maybe those of you in power could stop playing politics with my life and maybe consider the impact on patient care while you are playing politics with the Burns Lake doctors.
As a young person who follows local events which affect me so much, I would ask why it is taking so long to resolve the issues you seem to have with our local doctors.
Is this cry for some kind of help going to fall on deaf ears or will you legitimately try to help myself and other sick kids in our community?
A tired and fed up,
Emily King
Burns Lake