An Example of the 'Alberta Advantage'

As you may know I have a knee bump/lump. Today I went to the medicentre to go see a doctor to see what the heck it was. The two minute consult determined that it could either be bursitis of the knee or a cyst growing on my knee. The doctor said that if I was to get an ultrasound I would be able to determine what it was. Point is that she said that it wasn't 'that' serious from my symptoms and that the ultrasound would then allow them to make a more definitive diagnosis. To make this medicentre even more enjoyable was the fact that it only took me about 1 hour to wait and have the piece of paper in my hand. Not bad on a Thursday afternoon.

For those who don't know ultrasound is a imaging technique that doesn't require ionizing radiation or dyes that need to be injected. It's very safe and relatively cheap and why it's used on pregnant women. (I apologize for this tangent)

So she gave me the sheet of the ultrasound clinic which is two stores away from the medicentre. She said that I would have to book an appointment with them. I went to the ultrasound and imaging clinic to book the appointment. They asked me which clinic I wanted to because they were already busy. Naively, I said it didn't matter because my knee doesn't hurt that badly. They then told me that my appointment would be on November 23rd. A month and a half away from doing an ultrasound...an ultrasound!! I don't know about you but that seems to be a really long time for something that doesn't take that long to do and something that is really cheap.

So that brings me to the main point of this rant. The Alberta Advantage. Why do we have large surpluses (or incredibly large) and $400 bonuses that are given after Christmas when regular plain services are inadequately supplied? Do other see the problem with this? So then by the government's logic if we live in an advantageous province, I wonder how long people in other provinces have to wait to get ultrasounds. Obviously it would be a lot longer because we have an advantage. It just makes perfect sense.

However, I seriously doubt that to be true. The fact of the matter is that the Alberta Government has continued to improperly fund many areas and thus inadequately provide for its citizens. Healthcare and postsecondary education aren't a priority for this government and never will be. I just consider myself lucky because I am not experiencing any pain. I can't imagine the ire a person would feel if they were in pain and had to wait as long as I did.

Is providing adequate medical procedures without prolonged waits too much to ask?