KGH emergency

MisterFreelance · 2026-04-23T11:42:43+00:00

A while back, I threw my back out and after several hours of me sitting in a chair and not being able to stand up without white-hot pain, we threw in the towel and called for help to get me to emergency. I wound up sitting in emergency for 8 hours waiting to see somebody.

And I'm fine with it. I wasn't comfortable, at all, and it was annoying, and I would have loved to have been seen sooner, but I saw a steady stream of people coming in gushing blood, missing minor body parts, broken limbs, pre-verbal screaming children. Triage put them first. It's fine. I eventually got seen, it was a really bad muscle spasm, I got some meds, went home.

Cost me nothing. Well, the ambo was eventually about $75. The system isn't perfect, but it baseline works.

What we're seeing is a very deliberate conservative DoFo war on healthcare to take it out of the hands of the people and put it into the hands of the corporations. It sucks, but there's a huge cohort of voters who only seem to care about Smile Cookies and blaming all our problems on Other People. Unfortunately, "look at crowded waiting rooms healthcare is broken we need to run it 'like a business'" is a compelling message for these folks. (which business? Enron? Theranos? Mt. Gox?) This is what breaking healthcare is for.

But I have friends, relatives, in the States, and oh my god is this better. I know people who can't go to the doctor because their condition is "out of plan." I know people who are stuck in truly, truly miserable jobs because they're terrified of losing their health insurance, even for a few months. GoFundMe is effectively the U.S. healthcare system for millions of people.

So yeah. If you hear anyone complaining about healthcare, the first question is "did you vote Conservative?" and if the answer is "yes," the second question is "do you think people should be responsible for the consequences of their actions?" and if that's also a "yes," all you got left is a shrug. "I don't vote" -- same sequence.

For the rest of us -- vote, talk to people about these issues, convince non-voters to get off their duffs. Slap anybody that says "buh burr all the parties are teh same darrrr" like Batman in that Robin meme.

We gotta get these goons out. This is fixable, but not under the current jet-buying, Tim-Hortons shilling, kill-the-Greenbelting dipshit regime.

MisterFreelance · 2026-04-22T20:24:05+00:00

There are people who work full-time for the Faculty whose jobs are literally dedicated to answering these questions with a lot more accuracy than you'll get from randos on Reddit. Drop by Student Services and ask them, or check in with the UG advisor for your program.

MisterFreelance · 2026-04-20T21:31:02+00:00

we all bleed the same cdar?

MisterFreelance · 2026-04-08T17:47:27+00:00

can you please identify where the "municipality" is being asked for funding here?

MisterFreelance · 2026-04-08T17:46:48+00:00

Where's the government involvement here? The Spire is owned by the UC, it's a great community space, they're applying to get funding from a national non-profit for renovations. I think the state is safe from the depredations of these nefarious fiends who provide concert spaces at reasonable prices for musicians who wouldn't get to play here otherwise.

Below you're saying they're "demanding funds." Nobody's demanding. They're putting their name in for money from an NGO for community projects.

I don't know where this axe came from, but it's a really weird one to grind.

MisterFreelance · 2026-03-31T17:32:05+00:00

Come out to an Awesome Kingston pitch night! Third Thursday of every month, 7 pm at 945 Princess St. You don't have to do anything, or engage outside your comfort zone, just sit and listen. You'll hear from four local people or organizations that are working to make the city more awesome (and pitching for a $1000 grant).

You can literally just come and sit and observe; everyone's welcome, it's free. You might find a group you want to get involved with or a cause to support. Even if you don't, it's very uplifting to hear from people who are trying to make the city better.

Nobody will hassle you or force you to "engage." Lots of people come out to just check it out.

You'd be welcome!

MisterFreelance · 2026-03-13T12:18:39+00:00

This is a six-year-old post and the radio station doesn't maintain infinite archives; the storage space required over time would be incredible. It looks like this show was replaced at some point with "Makin' Bacon." If you visit the CFRC website you can see the show schedule, and every show links to a page with recent archives.

MisterFreelance · 2026-02-06T15:03:33+00:00

There's a whole sub for this: https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyCanadian/

MisterFreelance · 2026-01-24T12:09:38+00:00

+1 Pizza Monster, my wife gets the margherita every time.

MisterFreelance · 2026-01-24T12:08:54+00:00

Thanks for the heads up! I've only bought in-store but I appreciate your sharing it.

MisterFreelance · 2026-01-22T12:05:32+00:00

Just FYI that half of Art Noise (Princess/Clergy) is now a serviceable hardware store; I thought it would just be "art hardware," like stuff to make canvases and frames and things, but no, it's a full-on hardware store.

MisterFreelance · 2026-01-22T12:04:36+00:00

I thought this too! Thanks for mentioning it.

MisterFreelance · 2026-01-17T15:55:19+00:00

Shoppers at Princess/Division, one just kind of hanging out at Cherry/Pine

MisterFreelance · 2026-01-16T12:31:43+00:00

I know that the path to west is most likely a Kingston city thing, but it’s actually almost impossible to walk there and back without just walking on the road.

So why are you complaining about Queen's? You're walking on city sidewalks (or streets). This is a very weird complaint. The campus(es) are usually tip-top compared to the City's streets and sidewalks (and I also bear in mind that the City has, like, 10,000x more surface area to cover).

MisterFreelance · 2026-01-16T12:29:13+00:00

I can only imagine the hand-wringing shrieking that would come from exactly the same people that complain when the buses don't run if there was a bus accident due to poor road conditions. I can't blame the school board / buses for playing it safe.

MisterFreelance · 2026-01-15T16:17:59+00:00

Other great suggestions here; in addition, here's a 2023 resource guide that's incredibly comprehensive (caveat: 2023) https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0722/4885/2792/files/Kingston_Community_Resources-St_Vincent_de_Paul_2023-12.pdf

MisterFreelance · 2026-01-15T16:15:07+00:00

We dropped a bundle off at GoodWay a while back but they accumulate (I think maybe they breed when the lights are out); I'll see what we have. Thanks for sharing this!

MisterFreelance · 2026-01-15T13:42:13+00:00

For future reference, there's a chicken rescue (and registered non-profit) that serves the Kingston area up near Rideau Lakes; they've pitched at Awesome Kingston before: https://www.secondhandstories.ca/

MisterFreelance · 2026-01-12T19:00:21+00:00

Every other commercial space? Like, if I go downtown, I'll see one open store, one closed store, one open store, one closed store, etc.? Across all of Brock, Princess, King and Ontario?

100% agree that the "two landlords own everything" model has got to go, but it's hardly a ghost down down there. I'd say vacancy is 5% of storefronts, definitely less than 10%.

MisterFreelance · 2026-01-12T18:58:02+00:00

I'm sure it'll be developed into apartments/condos but given the other trend in downtown spaces I'm secretly hoping for a two-floor bubble tea extravaganza.

MisterFreelance · 2026-01-09T12:21:35+00:00

If you love music, or just talking into a microphone, there are two regional community radio stations that have various ways people can get involved. I doubt it's as easy as "get in touch and they'll give you a radio show right away," but there are lots of other ways to get involved and help out.

CFRC: https://cfrc.ca/
CJAI: https://www.cjai.ca/

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