Add Your Voice

Have you or someone you know spent a long time waiting for orthopaedic surgery? What were the consequences of not having timely access to quality orthopaedic care? Were you or someone you know unable to receive the medication or medical device of most help? How did it cost you or your family in time, stress, or other factors?

In Canada, advocacy is an important part of our democratic government process. It means voters " speak up" and make their request for change known to their elected representatives. Their elected representatives in turn, take that same request that has been made by numerous voters to their party leader or legislative assembly and endeavour to carry out the requested action or initiate the requested change.

For charitable organizations, advocacy is speaking out on behalf of the people they serve, and encouraging those same people to help make the voice louder. For the people the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation serves, it means telling your story and helping your elected representative to reflect the needs of his or her constituents in legislature.

We encourage you to tell your story to your elected representative. Request their support to initiate solutions for the lack of timely access to care, or shortage of professionals. Tell them what you think will help you, your community, and your nation.

With a strong, unified voice, Canadian orthopaedic patients can effect positive change!

• Request solutions for lengthy wait times for orthopaedic surgery and get patients back to living their lives. Depending on where we live, Canadian patients can wait up to a year or more to have their physical mobility restored through orthopaedic surgery. Long wait times create physical, emotional, and economic burdens for those patients and their families. Patients deserve timely access to quality orthopaedic care.
• Request improved access to the best medicines and medical devices available. Medicines exist that can help patients recover faster after or alleviate pain while waiting for their surgery, but they're not always available due to regulatory or local economic reasons. Medical devices exist that can lengthen the life of an implant so a subsequent surgery is not needed for a longer time, if at all. Patients deserve access to the best of medical innovations for their conditions.

Need more information? Click here to read the Foundation's Positions on Public Policy.

Waiting for surgery -- A patient perspective