Anyone who listens to the radio while driving or at home has probably become immune to the daily tirade of advertising that we are being subjected to by the medical community. It is likely that most are not even aware of it because it is just the norm here in the USA. I can almost repeat verbatim the attributes of Northwell Health, the Valley System, St. Barnabas, and the clincher for me is “Maimonides is the very best place to be treated for a heart attack in the world.”
After all of these years of living in New Jersey I just cannot get accustomed to hospitals and doctors advertising their wares in such a public forum. For anyone reading this from Montreal, Toronto or somewhere else in Canada, can you imagine them advertising the “Jewish” (Jewish General Hospital) or Sunnyside Hospital as a great place to be sick? “Make sure your ambulance comes our way.”
In Canada, obviously because of the socialized medical system, it is true that you can see any doctor you wish. The crunch is that you might have to ask the driver of your hearse to stop off at the doctor’s office to have them cancel your scheduled appointment with several more months to reach the date, before it moves on to the cemetery. It is not so easy to get a doctor’s appointment and long waits for surgeries are alarming. Whereas in New Jersey it seems as if they are almost begging you to come in and check out the various medical facilities.
Today I noticed the sign on Route 4 that Hackensack Hospital has the newest and most innovative ways to treat knee replacements. I get a good laugh each time I notice the “entertainment” on the side of the road.
All kidding aside, what is wrong with our northern neighbor that has barely vaccinated the majority of its population? Now Canada stands at No. 50 in the world in attacking the virus with a vaccine. The fact that a curfew has to be imposed on the streets of Montreal from 6 at night until 5 in the morning is astounding. The impact that most people do not think about reaches far and wide. Now that the clocks have been changed to Daylight Savings Time, women are no longer able to go to the mikvah after sunset at night due to the curfew. The rabbonim have given them a “psak” to go to the mikvah during the eighth day.
Men are not able to leave their homes to go to daven Maariv since the clocks have been changed. Repercussion after repercussion, whereas here in the USA we are making progress with more and more people able to be vaccinated; and shortly those 16 and over can join the pool of candidates to sign up. In Montreal, if and when you receive your injection you are generally not scheduled for your second shot for at least three to four months later. Prime Minister Trudeau, who has always ridden on the shirt sleeves of his father, the late prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, has totally blown this entire COVID vaccine effort. It is shameful.
In the first year after we moved back to the United States, each time we would make an appointment to see a doctor, primarily for Mordechai, the medical assistant asked us why we would leave Canada where the idea of socialized medicine is so respected by those who know nothing about the challenges of waiting for doctors appointments, surgeries, MRIs, blood work, etc.
There was a famous story once written in the Montreal Gazette (the English language newspaper) of a man who made an appointment at a veterinary facility for an MRI for his dog with the hope that the practitioners might be able to fit him into the machine instead of the dog. This way he wouldn’t have to wait so long for the necessary but unavailable test. Does that make any sense?
Yes it is true that our costs are minimal in Canada, BUT the problem is that unless you have protexia (which we fortunately but embarrassedly did have) you might die before you have your tumor scanned or removed. And now the piece de resistance—no vaccine for the majority of the population. Shame on them.
As a result, I have begun to not only enjoy the humorous ads along the roads and in all forms of social media but also appreciate the significant difference in the treatment received here in the USA over the appalling system which most took for granted in Montreal. I am not sure if anyone else reads those signs, but if anyone needs to know where the most efficient treatment of torn tendons are, I will be happy to check it out for you the next time I take a drive and let you know.
Nina Glick lives in Bergenfield with her husband, Rabbi Mordechai Glick, after many years of service to the Montreal Jewish community. Nina coordinated all Yachad activities in Montreal and was a co/founder of Maison Shalom, a group home for special needs young adults. She can be reached at [email protected].
