Record wait times. Deadly outcomes. High-profile tragedies have shined light on a situation seen across the country — crowded ERs pushed to the brink. Here are some of their stories.
HALIFAX—In a small Cape Breton town of just over 500, more than 350 people showed up in the community room of the local hockey rink to mourn the passing of 67-year-old Charlene Snow.
It was a remarkable sight, said Katherine, who had seen Charlene spend countless hours at the rink, watching Blake as he made his way on- and off-ice through high school to this, his graduating year. “She had been sitting close to a set of really sick baby twins and she thought, ‘It’s too hard for me to stay here anyway. And if I leave, maybe they’ll be one person closer to getting attention,’ ” recounts Katherine.
And the people who work in emergency departments — once the “health safety nets of society” — are calling out for help. Most Canadian cities have more than 100 boarded patients in their emergency departments every day, the association says.from England suggests that such waits have dire effects — an additional death for every 82 patients who spend more than six to eight hours in the emergency department waiting for a hospital bed.
Just this week, ER nurse Helen Winter says she arrived at the Toronto hospital where she works to find seven ambulances waiting to offload patients.“We see people constantly unable to access the medical care that they need,” says Winter. “Sick, sick, sick children coming in and unable to be admitted so parents are having to take care of them at home. And they come in repeatedly.
“She used to go to the bakery every day and sit and have coffee, that was her happy place,” Roden said. “It was her way of socializing and getting out and about.” The North Shore News reported in July the woman was admitted to emergency on July 9 or 10 but, because no beds were available, was kept on the stretcher for two days.
Holthoff says when they arrived at the hospital, they were quickly assessed, but then waited more than six hours before Allison received treatment. She ultimately died in hospital. But rather than being admitted straight away, the 89-year-old former nurse had to wait in an ambulance outside for six hours. By the time she got inside she had tested positive for COVID and was developing pneumonia, Clément said.“She wasn’t in great health, but it definitely would have made a difference if our health-care system was in even a slightly better spot,” Clément said.
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