We are Black and Indigenous front line workers. Our own parents died of COVID-19 in Canada’s inequitable health system – Toronto Star
Jan. 18, 2022
We are used to the stories of community members being unable to access medical care when they need it, they write.
For so many in Canada, the concept of a collapsing healthcare system is impossible to conceive. For others, like our own families, the healthcare system has always been unreliable, failing and full of gaps.
Last summer, Alberta dropped almost all COVID-19 restrictions, including masking and isolation for positive cases. What came next was a surge beyond expectation, bringing the healthcare system to the brink. In this aftermath, my own father fell ill.
An ambulance was called for him twice, but hospitals were stretched beyond capacity. Paramedics were doing their best to assess vitals and provide care in the home. On the third 911 call, EMS arrived and my father’s vitals were incompatible with life. Oxygen below 70 per cent, barely responsive. He had full blown COVID-19 pneumonia. It was time to take him into a collapsing system where ICU beds and life saving therapies were being rationed.
