TIME TO GET ALL HEALTH-CARE PROFESSIONALS BACK TO WORK

As a family physician in Nova Scotia, I would like to reply to a recent letter from Dr. Julie Curwin (“Why are healthcare workers still under vaccine mandates?” Cape Breton Post, June 8), as well her critic (“Vaccine mandate question earns rebuttal, Cape Breton Post, June 14).

When I retired from the Armed Forces last year, I did not know for sure where I would find myself working. Turns out, I didn’t need to worry, because apparently they want me just about everywhere. I can’t turn around without, “We’d like you to move here.” “Hey, will you fill in for us for a while?” “Please consider joining our team.”

My point is, the shortage of health-care professionals is no joke. It’s dire, and this province has an obvious remedy at hand, even easier than trying to recruit from overseas or wherever, which is to allow the people who are already here to go back to their jobs.

Dr. Curwin’s detractor merits a response on several points. I trust that the readership of the Cape Breton Post is sufficiently sophisticated to grasp that “people who disagree with me get their information from Fox News” is not a grown-up argument, nor is “you should move to the USA.”

In fact, many doctors are moving to the USA, and I find that people often assume it’s for the money, but this isn’t the whole story. Many doctors, particularly after the past two years, prefer the culture of freedom over the rigidity that has recently dominated Canada, and folks who invite others to “move to the USA” should be careful about getting what they ask for.

We can’t afford to lose any more. Frankly, I’d like to see less quarreling, and more getting people back to work. We need it.

Dr. Matthew Tucker Middleton, N.S.