Editor's note: The author writes in response to LETTER: Childbirth is an 'extenuating circumstance'
To the editor:
Regarding childbirth at the North Bay Hospital, I sympathize with the writer as a woman and a mother of two. I had my children in the late 1960s, and at that time, no one was allowed to accompany a woman giving birth in a hospital. When my husband and I arrived, at one of the University Avenue hospitals, my husband was directed to the father's waiting room, and I was wheeled off to the Obstetrics unit. I didn't see my husband again until after I delivered, was cleaned up, and ensconced in my room.
However, times changed and hospitals became more cognizant of the importance of emotional well-being in the recovery process. Unfortunately, times have changed again. Hospital mission statements usually include "patient-centred care" — it looks good on the wall just inside the front door. But the reality is that it's actually "corporation-centred care" because that's the direction Ontario hospitals took about 30 years ago.
I've been on both sides of "the curtain," as an employee and as a patient. My message is this: You must be your own advocate and press for your issue as long as what you want doesn't compromise your well-being or that of others. The writer of LETTER: Childbirth is an 'extenuating circumstance' should have accepted the hospital's offer to allow her husband to accompany her, even if she were the "exception." And then, as she is now doing, advocate for change that would truly make the hospital focused on "patient-centred care."
P.S. In the human world, only WOMEN become pregnant and give birth. Until that changes and becomes a widely accepted fact of nature, I suggest that hospital staff drop the "woke agenda" and just treat everyone with kindness and compassion. It's vitally important that clear and concise communication be used by everyone, especially in the hospital setting; it could save a life. I shudder to hear that two nurses from our community hospital have been indoctrinated into the woke ideology instead of putting biology first.
Carolyn Peters
North Bay
