Tag: Solidarity

Bias and oppression

Q: How do you think bias, oppression, etc. can best be addressed at an individual, community or policy level in Canada?

A: Simply by encouraging everyone to open their eyes and ears to the world around them.

I’ve learned to look on the world differently than I’d been taught to while growing up. Through that of experience. Lessons that would of otherwise been impossible to effectively learn without having lived through my accident.

I’m the person I am today because everything that has happened to me. And yet I still live to laugh. In all honesty I couldn’t tell you why that is. But it is. Continue reading Bias and oppression

Support and services

Q: What support services were the most/least beneficial to you and why?

I honestly couldn’t break it down to any specific services. I really had to think about this question before I arrived at a semi-workable answer. And the answer isn’t quite as specific as I’d have hoped. Oh well.

I believe my “support” and whether it has benefited me, either positively or negatively, simply boils down to whether it was obtained independently, or through a so-called “service provider.”

I didn’t have much control with any “formal” service entity. I was at the mercy of the service and what they’re able to provide at any given time. At least where PSW services go. They were not very flexible and, either unwilling, or unable to deal with change. Like if a staff member was sick, or unable to “report for duty,” not once were they able to provide me a back-up. And given this relations were often strained as a result. A person’s care is, inevitably personal and important. As it should be. I expected dependable help, but was provided anything but. Continue reading Support and services

Adjustment and culture

Q: Could you describe how you and your family members, friends, etc. adjusted to your return to the home environment and how the family culture may have changed?

A: After such a nightmarish (for lack of a worse word, I feel somewhat restrained to remain polite) hospital stay, for me at least my return home and the any adjustment that had to be made was a smooth one. To be fair, I suspect not rushing my return helped quite a bit. 2 or 3 months before I was eventually discharged I was able to go home every weekend. So my return wasn’t hard on my family with respect to me not being there one day and being there the next. My family and support staff had run through the drill a bunch of times well before I actually came home. And I’d imagine that greatly helped with the transition for them, as well as myself. Continue reading Adjustment and culture

Health care culture and interaction

Q: Could you describe your perception of the hospital culture including your interaction with specific professionals at that time and how you adjusted?

A: The culture was desperately overworked. And greatly understaffed. Specialized members at any hospital I was at, whether the doctors or therapy personnel were few and far between. I only saw my neurologist, the physician overseeing my case once in the five months I was at one hospital.

Which left nursing staff as my primary exposure to professionals. Tired and cranky are two words that immediately spring to mind. But in defense of a few members of the attending staff, they understood my visible signs of frustration and did their best to try and rectify it. But rarely did it help. You can only do so much with what you have to work with. And sadly I wasn’t in any position to “adjust,” so to speak. I was just left to wait. Continue reading Health care culture and interaction