No family physician, no referrals: How the doctor shortage is affecting one family in Labrador West
CBC
For Annabella Ringer, a young Labrador West woman with the inflammatory bowel diseases Crohn's and colitis, her diagnosis means monthly blood work to check up on her inflammation markers — but Ringer doesn't have a family doctor to follow up with the family.
Without a family doctor, says her mother, Lisa Ringer, they never know when her inflammation markers are elevated, a very dangerous situation.
"My only avenue is to continue going to the outpatients department, emergency department when she becomes ill," Lisa Ringer told CBC News. "Things are not getting better for her and this is my fight now because she has exceeded the age for the Janeway."
Annabella Ringer was being seen by a gastroenterologist at the Janeway but since she 18, her mother said, she hasn't been able to access those services. Lisa Ringer says her daughter was not given a referral by the specialist at the Janeway and that every time they visit the emergency room when their daughter is ill, they are told to follow up with their family doctor.
Emergency room doctors haven't given Annabella a referral to see a gastrointestinal specialist for adult services, said Lisa Ringer, who believes that if they had a family doctor, they could get that referral.
"We need a doctor that we can go to regularly or discuss options with and for them to have knowledge. Every time we go to the emergency department it's the same thing. They want the history on her illness and when it started," said Lisa Ringer.
"We're at a real disadvantage not having that consistency of care. I'm bouncing from doctor to doctor.… I just don't think it's fair that we're put on the back burner for health care here in Labrador West."
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