MUSINGS and STORIES

MEDICAL ASSISTANCE, NOW AND THEN

What a difference a few decades make! When I was a growing girl in the city, our doctor lived a few streets away. He practiced from home, and would make a lot of house calls; needs must, because in those days just prior to WWII, there would be only one car to a household, if that, and the bread-winner would probably need it daily. A big, sick child could not be lumped in the mother’s arms to a doctor’s surgery streets away. My big sister frequently suffered from ear abscesses, and this painful condition was always treated by the doctor himself as she sat up in her own bed. Lancing might be necessary. Peroxide drops that foamed the detritus out of her ear canal would be swabbed away until it ran clear. I do not recall any hand washing as he gave my mother instructions regarding the ear’s after-care, but we all felt better and relieved after his visit. An account would be sent by the end of the month, not one to ever break the bank and cause distress, usually a half guinea (10/6), which was five cents more than a dollar, a manageable amount when the father’s wage would be perhaps eight dollars weekly. It was always possible to talk on the landline to our doctor if he were available. Willing to discuss the patient’s progress or otherwise, he would give free advice and allay fears prior to his next visit, or listen intently and suggest that he call the ambulance to take the sick person to hospital, which visit he would arrange himself, and make all the calls necessary. Unless requested, no other medical person, specialist or otherwise was involved. Our doctor was a very well-respected man, and no wonder. He took our tonsils out, set our fractures, removed our appendices and gall-bladders and delivered our babies. So what do we do today? First, on phoning the medical practice, we must listen to a long, recorded diatribe about the rules pertaining to making an appointment, before being connected to a helpful receptionist who will sort out our needs and make the earliest appointment with the appropriate general practitioner. With luck, this could be in a few days’ time, but it might be several weeks before we can discuss our problem with our preferred doctor! And, of course, the visit is limited to fifteen minutes, after which an extra charge is levied. If one wishes to have a discussion per phone, one must make a tele-appointment, a paid consultation that is generally available within a few days. A rare, very costly home visit is mostly out of the question. If the situation is dire, then one calls the ambulance. It is the Paramedic who decides what is to be done, where one is to be taken. After a long wait in Emergency, admission and ward allocation, one finally sees the specialist who is in charge of the case. Our general practitioner is not on the scene at all. The faces are all unfamiliar and we must hope for the best. It generally is, but discussion is not encouraged as time seems to be of the essence. Our next-of-kin is hard put getting information, and only with the patient’s permission. While there are exceptions to every rule, it is obvious that conditions have changed radically. And, from the patient’s point of view, not for the better.

LIVING WITH A DISABILITY

I have a granddaughter who has ataxia, a form of cerebral palsy. She has a weakness in her hands, her tongue muscle and in the muscles of one leg. This means she cannot run, her fingers will not grasp smaller objects and her speech is sometimes hard to understand. She...

TRUE STORY: MUM’S FEET

It was during the Great Depression, when money was in short supply, that the collector would visit weekly to pick up a small amount of cash toward the sum that was owed. The two young boys who were sitting at the top of the outside stairs glimpsed the gas man...

HIGH SCHOOL FORMALS

HIGH SCHOOL FORMALS I am hearing about the large sums of money spent on the Senior Formals of some private schools. Perhaps this applies to public schools as well. Or not. One mother said the dress for her daughter cost almost a thousand dollars, as well as many...

REMEMBERING OLD SCHOOL DAYS

How I love reading of the old days in the Tamborine Bulletin! Not only does it inform me; it sometimes takes me back to my childhood at Buccan and my school days at Logan Village. This time, I was transported to the one-teacher school where headmaster Mr Alec Brown...

THE CROWS AT BUCCAN

Recent news about crows menacing humans reminded me of my school days when Marty, Joan and I would walk barefoot the five kilometres from our home on Buccan Hill to the Logan Village School. The first hundred or so metres down the long hill were safe enough, but then...

THE MEAT ANTS ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL

We walked barefoot to school at Logan Village. The gravel road near the Quinzy Creek bridge was sometimes covered in large meat-ant’s nests. These big red ants packed a powerful sting of which we were most aware. Joan and I skirted round the nests, but one day, Marty...

THE SILVER THIMBLE

We were leaving the district. Leaving the farm that had been home to four generations of my father’s family. The Great Depression still raged and times were tough for a small dairy farmer of 1937. They would try their luck in the city. A share farmer was arranged, a...

VALE BARRY HUMPHRIES

What a great entertainer! He has enabled us to enjoy such mirth! Such talent! He will be missed. Years ago, when my daughter Katy was a teenager, we were having a day at the Brisbane Exhibition. We had not long passed through the gates when I almost bumped into this...

FAIR EXCHANGE

The doorbell woke me from my midday nap. I groggily answered the front door. The pleasant looking young man smiled at me. ‘My wife and I were going past your place,’ he said, ‘and we noticed all the oranges under the tree. I wondered if you could spare a few? They...