We live in a modern, well-developed and progressive society and the human species has advanced rapidly in almost every area and aspect of life to the point where we are (generally) much safer, healthier and more well-catered for than ever before. This is certainly the case in my country, Australia, in which we have everything we need and more, in abundance, and there's little to no turmoil to be found as in other places. But...
Very recently a man died after a ten hour wait for an ambulance to arrive (which never did) to provide first aid and to transport him to one of those modern, well-developed, progressively advancing hospitals my country has...which the tax payer funds. He died in pain, suffering and without a hint of the proper care he deserved.
Shame on you government.
In the week just gone there was a medical emergency in my household and I called the '000' emergency number for an ambulance to attend. After explaining who and where I was, the situation and background on the individual I was told, the responders will be at least five hours away and to keep the person comfortable.
Fuck that! I put the person into one of my vehicles and drove straight to the hospital emergency department. This was at 02:00h (2am)...hardly a time in which one would expect the ambulance service to be run off their feet with calls.
Since then, five days ago, the person has remained in hospital and an operation is in the works, however due to complications it's not happened yet. In the intervening time care has been given, pain relief, a bed on a ward (after a wait in an emergency bay bed of fifteen hours), some meals and a lot of CT (and other) scans, blood tests and medication...it's been a stressful week considering this situation and the fact I went back to work for the year also - The start to 2024 I didn't need.
It made me think about the problems, and there's many.
An overloaded hospital system, lack of beds, doctors and medical staff plus many other issues...That means ambulances can't offload patients they collect into the hospitals which means they have to ramp - line up at emergency to wait for a bed to free up inside, which means they can't attend other emergency calls. The other day the main hospital in my city had twenty ambulances ramped for the entire day. But hang on...remember my first line?
We live in a a modern, well-developed and progressive society and the human species has advanced rapidly in almost every area and aspect of life to the point where we are (generally) much safer, healthier and more well-catered for than ever before.
I get that people who have not experienced this situation first-hand may not understand or may feel "everything is ok" but in truth everything is not ok, everything is fucked, and if it hasn't touched you yet...sit tight, it will.
I'm working through this recent situation as best I can and there'll be a resolution one way or another of course, but I can't help but look with dismay at the future...We are in a world that's progressed so far and yet...it's all fucked in so many ways...so where does it go from here? Does AI save the day, that wanker Elon Musk perhaps? Only a fucken retard would think that I think...I guess though, the best we can hope for is that the deaths that occur through these issues and others happen to someone else...but in reality it's a matter of time before it hits home and it'll touch everyone eventually.
Have you had any similar experiences like this, or heard of someone who has? Feel free to comment below.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
[Original and AI free]
Image(s) in this post are my own
Dude! That super sucks! I'm sorry your household is going through this at the moment.
It's hard not to be an absolute doomer at the moment. The hospitals in the US are at absolute breaking point, mostly because of the tripledemic (Covid, RSV, flu) is slaughtering emergency services that were already grossly underfunded. Covid is at its second highest level ever, and.... hospitals are one of the places people are catching these viruses the most... so if you go in for anything else, you're very likely to also get sick.
Obviously we can't count on billionaires, you don't become a billionaire by looking out for others, so really all we can do is heavily lean on our elected officials and scare them into fixing this situation and working on local community support for people when they need it... exactly like you did in driving to the hospital yourself.
I really don't enjoy having a pessimistic outlook but I'm pragmatic, a realist, and react to what I see and what I see isn't at all good. I'd like to say things will change due the better, and whilst I believe some areas my, I cannot because there's no evidence of it being on the horizon. Clearly it's the same in the States as you say...I'm not surprised. We have a sharp rise in covid cases here also, never hear much about it now...not newsworthy I guess.
First world countries like ours having issues like this? It does not make sense.
Interestingly, the government/ADF are handing out $50,000 re-sign up bonuses to military personnel at the end of their initial four year service just to keep them in for another three years...due to the "impending situation in the region" (China) and the need for additional personnel due to many leaving for the private sector and better pay.
Ok, I get it and agree.
I say this as one piece of evidence of where things are headed...nowhere good. But, people want to stick their head in the sand and delude themselves that things are moving in the right direction.
All we can do is prepare as best we can, take care of ourselves (self-reliance is key) and accept the fact that the decline has begun.
Absolutely agree.
I had no idea about the re-sign up bonus but I'm not in the least bit surprised. Ideally all the countries in the world would collaborate with each other to work on the global issues that will affect us all in the years and decades to come... but I think instead they're all just gearing up to fight over dwindling resources instead.
I don't think it's being pessimistic to be realistic. It's not impossible, but I think it's less likely things will turn around, so let's prepare ourselves for realistic and likely outcomes.
Yep, it's a thing for sure and I guess it's a good thing considering the tone in the world right now (a look at the news and who's hitting wo right now and recently will demonstrate why.) No one wants to sign up, our three military services are all well behind recruitment levels...they're even looking at options of recruiting from pacific islands around Australia (not legit in my estimation) and they have also reduced entrance criteria...no push ups, sit ups, beep test...A military force full of weaklings...but cannon fodder for the guns I guess. https://pay-conditions.defence.gov.au/continuation-bonus
Yes! (Won't happen though.)
Yes! (And will happen.)
The term spiraling out of control comes to mind.
My mom and dad live outside the city and last time they had to call an ambulance it took quite a while for them to get there. Not five hours, but quite a while. That's horrible that the person is having to go through that.
It happens a lot here which defies logic really, considering how affluent the country is. The truth is though, that it's a situation many other places face and it'll only get worse.
Lots of wide open spaces though, it's gotta be hard logistically.
In outback areas yes, although we have the royal flying doctor service that fly in and out in fixed wing aircraft, a service that works really well. But our cities are like anyone else's, millions of people in a concentrated area. Doesn't make sense that the ambulance (and hospital system in general) is in a shambles.
Yeah, that doesn't really make sense.
If I'm remembering my Greek history correctly, Aristotle's issue with democracies was rooted in elitism as much as anything, can't help but feel that quote gets interpreted differently today than in its original context.
As for the clusterfuck that was your run-in with emergency services, holy hell that's insane. The hospitals here have too many gunshot wounds show up for them to ramp ambulances and the wait times for them are usually under 10 minutes. Where I grew up was a different story but still nothing like five hours, although the ride to the hospital might take an hour or more. If it was anything serious they had to use helicopters because it'd take too long to get someone out by road.
Despite my cynicism and pessimism I somehow don't have much in the way of dismay at the future. Don't get me wrong, I think things are going to get bad in some (or many) ways but when things get bad seems to be about the only time we humans can remember how to work together to make things better. Now how do we decentralize healthcare?
I agree, things will get bad, very bad and maybe that'll pull people together but greed seems to be the order of the day from the very top to the very base of society (in different ways) and with everyone pulling in different directions it'll be difficult to get much of value done I'd say. When it all breaks down, well I guess I may be dead by then...but there's no denying the direction things are going now, one would have to be delusional not to see it.
Can't help but think of this Eddie Vedder song. Yeah, until we organize ourselves around something other than greed we're in for a hard way to go. In 2020, with the protests and all that happened here I got to see people come together and help and look after one other, "we take care of us" was one of our mantra, so I know it can be done. Too bad it seems to require extraordinary circumstances to get people to look out for something other than #1.
If everyone was on board at the same moment and it was sustained then change will happen. But it won't because people won't.
Well, this is a daily or constant occurrence in my country. The doctors go on strike due to low wages and lack of facilities leaving the patients with few or no doctors to attend to them and perhaps save emergencies. Health care is really fucked up in my country which is regarded as a third-world or developing country.
But I believe the issue of health care isn't only particular to countries even the so-called developed countries continue to face issues regarding healthcare, take the UK, for example, there is so much crying about the NHS and the mighty USA has no public healthcare and the cost of medicine is far expensive than other developed countries.
These problems are widespread as are many others although some countries experience far worse issues than others.
Exactly sir.
Man, really sorry you're going through that.
This is the case in so many realms of society. So many enormous problems that we either don't understand, or just are plain unaware of - and all too often, the uncomfortable feeling that focusing on societal problems brings causes people to hide their eyes from the issues.
Sometimes in fear. Sometimes in judgment (which is often rooted in fear or ignorance)... until it touches them, personally.
Again, sorry you and yours are going through this.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you through this rough time. ❤️
Unaware of, or don't understand, yes...but there's also so many problems ignored due to the cost of changing them, the loss some may incur if change was to occur (I mean corporations, business magnates and governments) and the fact that control of this nature is actually good for business...keeping the masses in check I mean. There's always been little fish and big fish...I'm the former, as are most, and it's the little fish who bear the brunt of the machinations of the big.
Greetings, we live in a modern world is very true, but the benefits are for those who have the power or wealth, sadness that seizes my being, not being able to do something .., 🙈🙈
It's certainly the case although I think that's nothing new, there's always been haves and have nots.
I rectify, sorry 🙈, happy and blessed evening.
Wow ! 😮
That is terrible for anyone to have to wait hours and hours for emergency service. So awful to think of someone suffering like that for so long.
I hear in some of the bigger cities or maybe it's the higher crimes cities, that emergency help can take a while to get there if you call. Never heard of it being so many hours though, but I'm sure there is much I don't know.
Here, in this small city, it would be totally weird to wait very long at all on a normal basis. We have local emergency services, but also our fire fighters are trained as first responders too and since all the districts have fire departments of some kind within minutes away, the fire department's first responders are usually on the scene before the ambulance can get there, even if it comes straight away and are able to start assessing the situation and giving some aid.
I guess you don't know how lucky you have it in so many ways until one day, it's no longer there.
Sorry that you had to go through that. Even when you are a person that keeps their cool and can figure out the best way to handle a bad situation, it doesn't keep you from being affected.
Ten hours that person waited a couple weeks ago...I can't imagine his death was pleasant and that the family is sitting around today feeling happy about the situation. Heads should roll...government heads, and yeah I mean literally.
I think, in smaller places response times can be less but, of course, most small communities don't have hospitals of their own and the ones they do have are often ill-equipped. They are beginning to upskill the firefighters here to respond in high-demand times when the ambulance cannot but that's not to transport people to hospital and offer the care an ambo can. It's a band-aid fix that won't help much in the long term.
As you say, it's the land of milk and honey where champagne falls from the skies and fairies sprinkle glitter on everything...until you're having a heart attack and have to endure several hours of agony until an ambulance arrives...but you die first. Oh well, let's all just move on...go play some video games and order Uber food deliveries.
But nah seriously, it's all good right? The world is getting better, thanks AI and Elon Musk, autonomous cars and supermarkets without cashiers and Amazon and Instagram and China and all the other bullshit they pass off as progress. It's all good.
Umm...but nope, it ain't.
Once when I was still in High School, I was with a friend at a bakery and we heard a loud bump. It was an old lady who had fell down a flight of stairs and was bleeding in the sidewalk nearby. We jumped from our table since we had had a lot of first response training the previous year and did our thing to help the lady.
The ambulance arrived shortly.
I guess in some other countries with smaller cities things tend to move faster for these kind of situation, but we can't never tell. Sometimes the fact that stuff isn't all integrated in a big system helps a lot and most of time it doesn't.
This seems like the description of the only hospital in my city. Add to that the contaminated areas and how people die from infections after surgeries. And when you enter it, it's the living image of a war zone at it's worst times as people flood the hallways and you need to thread carefully amongst the sick and injured.
Yes, I'd say the issues here and in your hospitals there would be found in many countries and I think there'd be a lot of stories of woe from those who have suffered because of it. Maybe there's just too many people on the planet, maybe five billion of them need to die...maybe it'll even happen in the future when humanity fuck things up some more.
I called it, although I'll probably not be around to say, I told you so.
Who knows what will happen? The world is going to sh*t as it is.
I concur.
Oh, I'm sorry you are going through this situation. It is really alarming. I wish that everything finds its way and gets solved and that your relative can finally be treated surgically and successfully.
I imagine the costs of such a delay as well. And the worry of course...all this together, it's like a ticking time bomb that can explode at any moment inside anyone going through this stress. I just ask you to take care of yourself and try to stay positive. You must take care of your health as well. And I know you have support, but it's not easy for anyone right now. It's your turn to be strong, you are the little cowboy, remember?
I'm a prepared and capable man, I have worked hard all my life to position myself that way and I use the skills I have...I'm also positive about how I deal with things and how things may turn out for the patient...but when it comes to being positive about the future of the human race...well, it's doomed in my belief and we're on the journey already. A race to the bottom and once there we'll find...the end. Humanity deserves no less though, it's our own fault...too much greed, hubris and ego...too much want over need and too many people seeking power...also, too many people deluding themselves that things are getting better.
Imagine if this happens in Australia, what will it be like in Cuba, for example? Or how it will be in another underdeveloped or extremely poor country?
It's good to know you have the tools and capacity, I never thought you less. I know that, but I still express my concern for you and your family.
Best regards
I know, that fact hasn't eluded me, I've said so in other comments on this post. Australia is an affluent country, and yet we have these issues...other countries...well, they have them too and worse.
Oof sounds like you made the right call there x_x
I haven't had to deal with anything personally so far, only stories from other people like the one you've told me (and that's still too many). The hospital system was struggling a bit before but I've been hearing that post mandates they've been completely run off their feet.
A few of sibling dearest's friends have had rough starts to the year as well (one had a couple of deaths on both sides of the family and one had to finally get their ancient fossil of a dog euthanised).
Hope you and your person are going okay.
I'm a pragmatic man and understand that there's many things wrong, it helps to see the wrongs, to talk about them, show indignation and all. What annoys me is when people delude themselves and insist everything's ok which, clearly is not the case in many aspects of life. If people rose up and demanded change, improvement, there would be some, or a chance of some, but when people insist there's nothing wrong, ignore the warning signs, and choose to do nothing then there's little hope; people will get what's coming to them....all of us.
Hell, maybe we're all fucked anyway and this is just part of the journey into oblivion. (I sort of think the latter to be honest.)
I think for a lot of people it's always okay and not that big a deal and other people are being overly dramatic when they personally don't have to deal with it or help someone who does.
Ambulance system is broken in almost every country. Last month, baby's health( the baby who is my home) was not good and she got cold fever. She was just of 2 days. It was situation of panic at my home. My uncle called ambulance but as we knew that it will not come on time so my uncle started car and went hospital.
Next in hospital, there was no bed available and also there was no oxygen. So my uncle has to drive for 2 hours to go to developed city and there he got bed for her daughter.
Yeah I'm not surprised to hear it, there's many thing broken in society and mostly humans are to blame for them being broken.
It is not only a specific area problem, this is happening mostly everywhere in the world.
Fatima Jinnah writes, “After we had covered about four miles, the ambulance coughed, as if gasping for breath, and came to a sudden stop. After about five minutes, I came out of the ambulance and was told that it had run short of petrol. The driver started fidgeting with the engine, but it would not start as I entered the ambulance again, the Quaid’s hands moved slightly, and his eyes looked at me in an inquiring manner. I bent low and said to him, there is a breakdown in the engine of the ambulance.” He closed his eyes. Sister Dunham and I fanned his face by turns, waiting for another ambulance to come, every. Minute an eternity of agony. He could not be shifted to the Cadillac, as it was not big enough for the stretcher
You know what? This is the story of our great leader quaid e Azam (the founder of our country Pakistan).
From here one can guess what kind of situation people (middle class) are facing here in Pakistan. If you have a lot of money, you are safe but if not then bye bye. Ah
People with money suffer also, just differently and maybe not as often, or so I have found it to be.
In the Philippines, people don't even use Ambulances all that much. It is mostly the rich that do, since one has to pay for them, and they cost a lot. A lot of the hospitals are almost always full. I guess this is one sign of the world's overpopulation. First world, third world, most hospitals are swamped with patients.
I hope the person hospitalized gets better soon.
Overpopulation certainly adds to the issues although I think there's others as well, and all are equally difficult to deal with probably.
It is unfortunate the death of people due to negligence for not arriving in time to attend, when you have a family member with an emergency you have to act fast, you did very well to take him to the medical center. Here in my country health and education are on the floor, as a public administration worker we do not have medical insurance and if we have any emergency, in hospitals there are doctors and you have to pay for everything you need for medicines, ambulance, either, you have to pay to transfer a patient, greetings.
In a society that celebrates its own magnificence and which is full of people who believe everything to be well in hand it's pretty pathetic really. You'd think there's be a huge uproar about it, and there is with those it effects, but it's not loud enough...yet. when it starts happening more and more, which it will, then maybe someone will take notice.
The sad thing is, there's countries that are far worse off than my own...I guess a vision of what's to come for countries on the decline.
I think you could say that almost all countries are worse off than Australia, given how rich in resources the land is and how few people actually live there. Per capita Australians really are some of the richest people in the world.
I agree man, I am thankful every day I was born in Australia...there's a lot wrong but in comparison to other places it's an awesome place to be.
God willing it will get better in your country, in my country the situation is strong, you have to pray to God to stay in good health and go through this kind of situations.
I understand that there's places far worse off that Australia; I really hope there's some positive change there, and here, but I am not optimistic.
God willing it will get better in your country, in my country the situation is strong, you have to pray to God to stay in good health and go through this kind of situations.
Last year my neighbour had to wait for an ambulance for nearly an hour. Luckily it all ended well. But I already thought that it is taking too long. I couldn't imagine having to wait 10 hours for an ambulance... that is insane.
It really makes no sense how a modern society can't get the medical service working properly, but it's an issue that will occur more and more and will cause chaos in the near future. (It is already I guess.)
Mate, what an unpleasant and stressful situation, I know how hard it is. I remember when my father had his first heart attack I was 17 years old and we called the emergency service but if in Australia it is like that imagine in Cuba. I had to take my dad's car (luckily it was automatic) and drive it myself, no one in the neighborhood drove so I had to do it. According to the doctor, if we had waited 1 hour he would not be with us now, after overcoming that event, I decided to become a doctor, to not have to go through so many obstacles again and to help others in that same situation. I hope everything is resolved in the best way and the year gets on track.
Mate, I hope everything improves soon, thank you for sharing this experience with us, I know it has not been easy
It's really quite bad here and has been declining almost exponentially, seemingly more rapidly in the last three to four years. There's many reasons why but boiled down could be summarised as overpopulation I guess. Too many people for the available services, just like there's too many people for the planet's resources to sustain. We think we're so clever, humans, and yet we consistently overuse, want more and more and have more focus on easier lives rather than what's right for our lives. Pathetic.
Medical systems around the world will break, it's already happened in less-developed countries and is happening in the more affluent countries. People will deny it, but that's be people who haven't had problems yet and who have no real clue.
You did well with your dad, he was lucky, but many are not so lucky and the second list will get longer and longer as time passes.
That's why I was telling you the other day that I like the work you do in your posts about food and a healthier lifestyle. I wish more people did that. It's something so simple and necessary that I think that's why it's so hard.
COVID already showed how inefficient the health systems are and the worst thing is that that's the everyday life of many.
Oh yeah, I agree the pandemic highlighted a distinct shortfall and it'll happen again, to think otherwise would be naive in the extreme.
Here, they have beds lining corridors as they don't have space on wards, and they leave people sitting in chairs for hours due to a lack of beds...keep in mind this is in brand new hospitals, not old facilities. I don't see anything like what you'd see every day, only a small snapshot, but it's enough to understand that the system is broken. The sad thing is, many other systems we rely on every day are also broken...just ask our Hive friends in South Africa about their power grid for instance.
So many problems bro, so many.
Me and Mine sat and watched a few Franti videos yesterday. I wonder how Micheal feels in 2024. It has gotten much worse since He wrote this song...
I am hopeful but doubtful at the same time. 😕
I just don't see enough effort being out into a better way forward so hope for a better way forward is hard to find.
All is not well, and I can see and feel it. People are like in another reality and living an illusion, but all is not well and it won't be... it will get worse.
It was a very ugly situation that you went through and I understand it because it has not only happened to me, but I have heard many similar stories, especially in Argentina.
An ambulance is called but never comes, people die because of it, desperate situations. Treatment in a hospital that leaves a lot to be desired. They treat a person for one thing and they have another.
When I was at home and my grandmother's face was deformed, I had to take her by taxi, they treated her for high blood pressure and it was a brain tumour. I will never forget that. It was desperate.
The number of cases I hear about is increasing, but what people don't know is that the systems are collapsing due to lack of nurses and doctors. .... too many have died in the last two years. People collapsing in the street, an increase in the number of heart attacks, strokes, cancer.... among others. There is a general collapse of everything.... and this looks very bad, very bad.
It's amazing how people can be elected into office, (government) after making claims about this policy and that, fixing hospitals, schools, roads and so on...and then do fuck all fixing. The population sees it, doesn't like it and then at the next election proceeds to vote in the next group of fucktards who do the same thing. The healthcare and medical systems of the world are broken or breaking and people are accepting of it. Humans advancing? Np, humans declining little by little and that's gaining momentum.
You realise how politicians from one party or another are all the same in the end, they destroy the good that the previous one did and make more disasters. No, the human being does not advance. .... will the decadence remain?
Politicians do that for sure . But so do otter humans. Destructive fuckers.
The human race.... because it will be so destructive...
Hello Galen, bad experiences with what some politicians here call the "best health system in the world" I have them like many people in Spain. I have had a very bad experience with my father. And more recently my ex-mother-in-law had a heart valve replaced. Two days after the operation she was in great pain, we called the emergency service at 9 pm, the ambulance arrived at 6 am. She stayed in the "emergency room", which is actually a hospital corridor with beds. She was there for several hours when we were told that she had a room, although no one would tell us which floor and room number she was on. Finally she was not in a room, she was in the intensive care unit awaiting emergency surgery. It took us a long time to locate her. Finally she was operated on for the second time, and they put in a pacemaker that did not work. Now my ex-mother-in-law is home and everything seems to be fine. This is just one example of what seems to be a universal phenomenon which is the increasing dehumanization of the world we live in. I know this post is long, but I didn't know how to summarize it more. A hug
Ah yes, here you have a story that many around the world could relate to as they have experienced the same thing personally or through family members. It doesn't make sense in modern society but it's the reality. I understand that advancements have occurred in the medical field, equipment, drugs and techniques...but the systems can't cope with the volume of people and there's many reasons why not least of which is the volume of people!
Dear Galen, this time I am not going to agree with you. I do not doubt that we may be many people on Earth, but at least in Spain health services are degrading at a faster rate than population growth. A hug
Disagreeing is fine...but in this case I agree with you. 😊 😉
Heartfelt condolences to the family affected. It's eye-opening to read about the strain on our healthcare system like this. I agree that we need to look for innovative solutions – maybe in the field of AI or new organizational systems. How do you envisage AI could help in these circumstances?"
I hate AI and it's not the answer, it's part of the problem.
Although we have seen some advancements in the field of AI, it is still crucial that we proceed with caution.
AI will be partly responsible for the demise of the human race. I'll be dead when it happens, but I'll be a ghost saying, I told you so.
You have this same issue in your country?