Honorable Gordon Campbell
PO Box 9041
STN PROV GOVT
Victoria BC
V8W 9E1
Dear Premier Campbell,
Recently, I heard you on the news asking average Canadians to play a key role in the future of our health care system. I also heard that you were traveling around the country looking for solutions for a fix. There are many of us who feel we could help, and that by looking in our backyards, we could find some of the reasons why we are sick. Maybe as a result we could be able to minimize expenses, and not to the cost of the patient. I am talking about tick borne infections and diseases.
Here is the reality of our health care system. We baby boomers are being blamed for taxing the system because many of us are sick with tick borne infections; yet few doctors will treat us when we tell them our symptoms. The problem is that our laboratory does not have reliable testing for these particular diseases and most physicians have not been trained to diagnose or treat our infection.
How many people are suffering from an infection known as Lyme disease? Nobody knows because this infection can cause any of many symptoms to flare….and yet, it is said that Lyme disease and tick borne co-infections are rare in BC. The reality is that these diseases are now in most areas of Canada, but few doctors, politicians and officials are really willing to accept this fact.
My experience is with diagnosed osteoarthritis as a result of untreated Lyme disease so I do not begrudge the $62 million you spent to speed up the process of joint replacement. Do you think all these peoples' joints are wearing out, or do we have an undiagnosed infection that has an affinity for previous damage such as injury caused by repetitive use of certain joints? I understand the patient's decision to choose joint replacement and wonder how many cases were treatable Lyme disease like mine?
Someday we have to stop throwing money at the health care system and put some money into research to find out why we are sick.
The health of our small mammals is an indication to the health of our planet. Locally our snowshoe hares have virtually disappeared in the past 30 years. This is a very excellent research area that I believe will tell us that, yes, some of these joint replacements can be avoided if we were able and willing to recognize the blatant symptoms of these tick-borne diseases. This alone would save millions upon millions of dollars in medical expenses, but first we just need to look in our own backyards. I would like to contribute towards this research by sharing my local knowledge of this area.
Somebody has to take leadership here, so if you do nothing else, please take a few minutes to talk to Dr. Murakami of Hope, BC, and get an insight into the world of Lyme. This doctor has knowingly treated more cases of Lyme disease than any doctor in not just BC but many areas of Canada. As a result there are many of his patients who have happily gone back to being productive tax paying citizens again instead of burdening our social and health care systems. Perhaps you could seek out and talk to some patients who have battled Lyme disease and its co-infections as well.
The hares are our "canaries"; we must understand what caused their demise and what diseases they carry.
Hoping for a favorable reply.
Sincerely,
Ron Gerhardi
Copy to Dr. Murakami.
Copy to PM Stephen Harper as this is not just a Provincial problem, it is also a Federal problem.
I have taken the liberty of posting this letter on the BC Lyme information site under "Research". Google lymeinbc
Return to: Research