National Adult Literacy Database

December 11, 2006

Abeba and Dorothy working together at the Halifax North Public Library

Ababa Ayele is a student from Halifax, Nova Scotia, with the Halifax North Public Library one to one tutoring program with Coordinator Jennifer Peach. She works with her tutor Dorothy Moore once a week.

Health

by Ababa Ayele

When I was working, I was strong and healthy. I was a personal care worker and had to lift the patient often. This was from 1997 to 2002. After that I worked at Dalhousie for office-cleaning until this year. In all this work I was mostly standing. I had fallen on ice and hurt my knees, and my doctor sent me for physiotherapy. After that I received no further treatment, except Tylenol.

For this problem, and others, I have found there are the following remedies:

1. Pins placed in knees
2. Anti-inflammatory medicine
3. Knee supports
4. Reducing the weight of the patient
5. Expensive special shoes

These are all available through the government health system, but you need to be referred to the right place.

I think Canada has a good health care system. But there are many counties which have little health care or none at all. Even if there are hospitals, patients’ families have to take food there for them, as in my homeland, Ethiopia. But even in rich countries like America, there are many people who have no health care and can not afford to buy it.