submitted by William J. Langenberg, (M.Sc. Env. Boil.)
Our Governments are Rudderless, Aimless and Hopeless I discovered today when I received a “Dear William” letter from my local family physician:
“With regret I am informing you of my practice closure. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a replacement physician. Therefore you are on your own”. One of the reasons my family physician gave me in this letter: “lack of systemic and government support”.
Today I am turning 76 and found out that I no longer have a family physician. I feel “abandoned”. Throughout those years, I have had the confidence of always having a permanent family physician available in case I needed a consultation. That was until early 2000, when our local established family physicians started to retire. Since these retirements, both my wife and I were constantly looking for a replacement physician until we found one a number of years ago. This doctor-patient relationship ended today on my 76th birthday. Today I feel that I live in a rudderless, aimless and hopeless society. We need a family physician for all kind of reasons.
The reasons we need a family physician is to meet our basic esteem needs according to Maslov (1943).
The most important basic esteem need is, according to Maslov: “Community Well-being”, which includes, air, water, food, shelter, and psychological and physical medical services. You cannot expand a municipality by increasing its population without providing adequate services that meet the basic needs to maintain a community’s well-being. Over the 76 years I needed my family physician to advise me on my physical, psychological and spiritual well-being. That doctor patient relationship is just to meet my basic needs, which provides me with the basic instinct of trust, respect, autonomy and well-being in a sustainable society. When my basic esteem needs are not met, I experience what psychologists Alfred Adler called “feeling of inferiority”. I am not the only one, because the other night my wife and I did a crisis intervention in North Grenville. The person we spoke to over the phone was desperate and called in panic.
I can’t change politicians. I can only support others who are in the same boat as myself. So, today I am pulling weeds in my garden. While doing this, hopefully I can find a solution in finding another health-care provider.
I got to have faith.