(photo contributed)
Holly Chudd of Lockeport will have to wait nearly four months to get a mammogram appointment.
The 41-year-old mother of two needs the screening because she has lumps in both breasts and a family history of breast cancer.
Chudd says she had to wait three weeks for a referral from a nurse-practitioner for a December 7th appointment in Yarmouth.
But then the radiologists quit.
Now she has to wait until February.
“It makes you feel sick. You’re lost for words. it’s pathetic, it’s disgusting.”
Chudd knows what she’s like to say to Premier Stephen McNeil and Health Minister Randy Delorey.
“Smarten up. Take a closer look at how many people are actually here that do not have a family doctor, especially around here in Lockeport. Because people then get tired and they think what’s the point, I might as well forget about it. They’re not getting the attention that they need. All ages.”
Queens-Shelburne MLA Kim Masland says she’s been hearing the same message from people since the election campaign in May.
“We in this province are in a health care crisis and sadly we just can’t seem to get this government to realize where we are.”
She says it’s just another example of complete mismanagement by the Health Authority and the Liberal government.
Masland says the situation is simply not acceptable and they will keep trying to hammer that point home with the government.
“Everyday day when we walk into that Legislature are focus on health care. Making sure that there are doctors for Nova Scotians. Making sure that they can get testing done like this without having to wait 120 days.”
She says with the repeated closures of Roseway Hospital’s emergency department and now this, it’s clear the government is blind to the fact that there is a crisis in health care.
The average wait time for diagnostic breast screening in Nova Scotia is 33 days.
The Nova Scotia Health Authority website says the wait in Yarmouth is 70 days.