Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/9066662/emergency-rooms-canada-big-small/
‘Mind boggling’: ERs big and small across Canada struggle amid staffing crisis
By Teresa Wright Global News
August 23, 2022
Berni Wood was in the throes of a COVID-19 infection and was struggling to breathe when she was told she would have to wait upwards of 20 hours in a Prince Edward Island emergency room to receive medical care.
The Charlottetown resident tested positive for the coronavirus just before the July 1 long weekend, and a few days into her illness, she began wheezing and couldn’t breathe.
When she arrived by ambulance at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Charlottetown — P.E.I.’s largest hospital — paramedics had planned to take her into a back room, as she was sick with COVID-19. But there was no room. So she was told to sit in the main waiting room. It was crammed with people.
She sat down next to a woman who believed she’d had a stroke. Nearby was a man with pains in his chest.
“I’m sitting around with all these people knowing I am COVID positive, and that really concerned me,” she said.
After three hours, Wood asked a nurse how much longer she would have to wait.
“I was quickly told that the wait would be probably 16 to 20 hours or longer.”
Wood left the ER and called a pharmacist, who was able to prescribe her a puffer to help her breathe.
Wood is just one of millions of Canadians who are increasingly faced with fewer options for medical care, thanks to staffing shortages in health care across Canada, which have led to a cascade of ER closures, extended waiting times and even several deaths of patients who died waiting for medical care. ..
‘Mind boggling’: ERs big and small across Canada struggle amid staffing crisis
By Teresa Wright Global News
August 23, 2022
Berni Wood was in the throes of a COVID-19 infection and was struggling to breathe when she was told she would have to wait upwards of 20 hours in a Prince Edward Island emergency room to receive medical care.
The Charlottetown resident tested positive for the coronavirus just before the July 1 long weekend, and a few days into her illness, she began wheezing and couldn’t breathe.
When she arrived by ambulance at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Charlottetown — P.E.I.’s largest hospital — paramedics had planned to take her into a back room, as she was sick with COVID-19. But there was no room. So she was told to sit in the main waiting room. It was crammed with people.
She sat down next to a woman who believed she’d had a stroke. Nearby was a man with pains in his chest.
“I’m sitting around with all these people knowing I am COVID positive, and that really concerned me,” she said.
After three hours, Wood asked a nurse how much longer she would have to wait.
“I was quickly told that the wait would be probably 16 to 20 hours or longer.”
Wood left the ER and called a pharmacist, who was able to prescribe her a puffer to help her breathe.
Wood is just one of millions of Canadians who are increasingly faced with fewer options for medical care, thanks to staffing shortages in health care across Canada, which have led to a cascade of ER closures, extended waiting times and even several deaths of patients who died waiting for medical care. ..