Sarnia needs emergency vet services
Sir: My dog and I went through hell on one recent Sunday.
While ‘Bella’ was in incredible distress and pain, I spent 40 minutes being bounced around on phone calls trying to find a veterinarian.
I was finally directed to a weekend emergency clinic in London. They wouldn’t see her either. I was told to wait until Monday.
That night we were up and down from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. and going outside 30 to 40 times while she tried to pee. She was wobbling and her legs finally gave out.
I carried her to the car, we drove to a Sarnia animal hospital, and waited there in the parking lot for it to open at 8 a.m.
The team was very compassionate and understanding, and as I write, Bella is still in their care.
I learned that Sarnia’s veterinarians got together and decided not to provide emergency animal care on weekends. I don’t get that. We, the pet owners, bring them to vets who make a very good living from it because we CARE about our animals.
But Sarnia’s animal doctors have turned their backs on emergency care. Where is the reciprocity? Couldn’t there be one on call? As a pet owner, I’m on call 24/7.
I can only imagine what other people have gone through, getting spun around on the phone, then driving to London and being charged exorbitant emergency fees while watching their animals in inconsolable pain.
It’s shameful Sarnia has no emergency service. Maybe if we took our animals to London for their routine checkups and shots for a year that would have some impact.
How can vets justify not supplying that service? Can anyone explain that to me?
Brian MacDonald
Sarnia
Recent drug overdose deaths spark reader’s plea for change
Sir: I have a burning, gnawing, inspiration to say something rather than, “He was a great guy!” on his obituary.
How is it three people are dead in a four-day period from drug overdoses in a population of 72,000 people? Seems overwhelmingly disproportionate, doesn’t it? How are we not banging down the doors of City Hall and pleading to the God’s of health care to help.
This is it; this is our S.O.S. I am 33 years old and have witnessed more of my peers die in my lifetime than my parents’ generation before me.
I have no other choice but to write this letter. I am compelled by my involuntary desire to live and grow with my generation, my fellow ‘80s babies. I am compelled by the obvious inability of my hometown authorities and council to MAKE A CHANGE. I am compelled by the ever-flowing obituaries that flood my Facebook feed.
Our streets are overpopulated with people trying to find help and not knowing what that help is. Never before have we seen such rampant drug problems. Never before have we seen these kinds of drugs. So we need to MAKE A CHANGE.
We need our leaders to step up and help save these people. We need kindness and understanding. We need a new, systematic approach. We need to save our friends and our children’s future. We need to MAKE A CHANGE!
Just as I am compelled to spark the question, hoping for someone smarter with an answer, I compel all of my Sarnia friends to keep the fight alive.
Keep asking the hard questions, keep pointing out the elephant at the funeral, be annoying about it. It is our human duty to keep our generation from killing themselves, and set up future generations for success.
I compel my council, please, MAKE A CHANGE!
Danielle Pretty
Sarnia
Why not a temporary solution for dangerous intersection?
Sir: A recent news article described a local tragedy called the intersection of Petrolia Line and Kimball Sideroad.
It seems Lambton County council has voted to include funding for a roundabout at that location in next year’s budget, which could cost $2 million to $5 million, depending on the required land.
The article also noted Lambton’s general manager of infrastructure and development services is waiting for a consultant that county council has retained to finish preliminary roundabout designs and cost estimates for a report back to council.
I would say we’re years away from any significant solution that would reduce the body count.
Meanwhile, here’s an idea. The intersection of Modeland and Blackwell has portable, temporary traffic lights, which could be used in the meantime.
It’s about 18 kilometres from Kimball-and-Petrolia Line to Modeland-Blackwell. Perhaps the manager could take a drive up there and see what he thinks.
Ed Williamson
Sarnia