Dr. Allan Horowitz, published newspaper article, Richmond Hill Liberal, Copyright June 13, 1990
Another column about the wonderful birth recently of my new son. (I am writing this column on May 9).
A chiropractor watches people move and bend and walk. We are trained to assess motions in the spine and we pick up subtle things by observing people move. (Sometimes it gets me into trouble on the beach.)
I was sitting in the hospital, for a full day with not much to do except talk to the nurses and tell my wife to breathe.
The nurses in obstetrics are on their feet all day. They bend, lift, rub, reach, run and pull all day long. They have funny hours, late nights, early mornings and very unpredictable shifts.
They might have nothing to do one moment and within a few minutes they might have to call in more staff because a busload of overdue mothers just pulled in.
They have to put up with ear-piercing screams from mothers, dumb questions from fathers and do-do from babies. Not fun stuff.
These people have a hard job. I walked the halls of York Central Hospital and saw several other people who have hard jobs.
I saw six doctors who are acquaintances of mine, two who are also patients. I saw two members of the cleaning staff who are patients and two other nurses who are patients.
Every one was working hard. The cleaners were pushing carts and bending and scrubbing. The doctors were running around doing doctor stuff. The nurses were carrying charts and getting prepared for surgery. The lights and stale air were getting on my nerves. These people work here and must be congratulated on doing a good job under trying conditions.
Helen and Louise remembered us from when they helped deliver our last child two years ago. They were delightful, helpful and cheerful. Margaret helped tremendously until she finally got to go home. Connie did the rest and was great.
They all work hard and I commented that these nurses must really like people to do this kind of work. It is a very people-oriented nursing specialty, unlike surgical nurses who have just as important a job, but don’t have as much patient contact. These nurses must like the patient contact and the rewarding feelings, because they could make more money and have an easier time doing something else. Nurses don’t go into that field for the money, just like doctors don’t.
When hours, stress, wear and tear on the body and everything else is taken into account, there is no doubt that nurses and doctors are underpaid. (Oh yes, and chiropractors, too!)
The doctor who delivered our baby was back and forth all day from the hospital to his house to his office. He has a difficult job: stressful, long hours and I don’t know if he would want me to mention it, but he is underpaid. OHIP, if you are listening - obstetricians are underpaid. (So are many other doctors, but I will have to jump on their bandwagon at another time.)
Veterinarians have a very important function in our society, and are highly skilled and well educated. However, I can’t rationalize the fact that they get paid more for performing a hysterectomy on a bird than an obstetrician or gynecologist gets paid for performing the same operation on a human.
So, to the nurses, doctors and staff at York Central, I congratulate you all for a job well done. Wear running shoes, watch your back when bending, and try not to work so hard.