Letter to the Editor – May 10, 2023

Frustrated

Dear Editor:

I have been trying to reach the Pontiac Community Hospital in Shawville without success. I received a message on my answering machine to call someone in reference to information from my doctor. I guess I will just have to wait for them to call me back. No, I don’t have a smart phone.
I worked for Bell Canada as a long-distance operator and have worked on switchboard and phones for over fifty years. I have never encountered such a complicated system such as those currently offered by the hospitals and CLSC’s.
In the old days if I had an emergency all I had to do was dial 911. If it wasn’t an emergency and I wanted to reach someone at the hospital all I had to do was dial a number and ask for that person. Now there is no operator to speak to and I can’t figure out what they want me to do to reach someone. I guess I am just too old and stupid.
Speaking personally, I have never encountered this kind of mumbo jumbo. Trying to reach a hospital or CLSC and speak to someone shouldn’t be so difficult. The current system needs to be scrapped and a less complicated system installed.
Some of us are seniors and not hip to all this nonsense. I guess they are trying to have machines take over and dump the human aspect. We don’t need people anymore, machines will do it. Ha!
Our sight is dim and our limbs don’t work as well as they used to. Oh, for the simpler days!
It shouldn’t be so difficult to reach medical facilities.
Thanks for letting me vent.

Maureen Gagnon
Campbell’s Bay, Que.