Missy Johnson, who lives in Lower Sackville, said her father was in a car accident when he was sent — despite a fever — from Cobequid Community Health Center because the ER was closing. Johnson said her father, Dave Picot, was taken to the hospital by ambulance earlier this month after developing a fever. After waiting nearly eight hours, he was told he had an infection that doctors could not detect. He was told to leave because the department was closing and to come back the next morning. On his return journey the next day, he passed out while driving and crashed into a telephone pole. He spent two days at Cobequid Health Center before being transferred to the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre. “He should never have been sent home,” Johnson said. “Why would you send a 79-year-old man, who has an infection in his body and a fever, home?” She said her father is now on the mend. He has also set up a GoFundMe to help replace the bright green Volkswagen Beetle that was involved in the accident.
System in crisis
According to data from Nova Scotia Health, there are 241 NS Health employees out of work as of Aug. 25 because they tested positive for COVID-19, are waiting for a COVID-19 test or were exposed to a household member who tested positive. the illness. The crisis in emergency rooms has been building since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff shortages combined with fewer family doctors have led to an increased number of people seeking care in an ER. Last month, the provincial NDP released records showing 43,000 people left an ER without treatment last year, a 60 per cent increase over the previous year. Leora Muise said her mother, Kim Fenwick, waited more than three hours in Valley Regional Hospital’s emergency room, vomiting and disoriented, before she was given something to sit on. During the wait, Muise said other people waiting for care started leaving because they felt uncomfortable seeing Fenwick in her condition. Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville, NS County residents say providing emergency care has been difficult as hospitals deal with more patients and fewer staff. (Robert Short/CBC) “I understand they’re understaffed, but if you’re going to make people wait eight, nine hours at a time and they’re really, really sick, your priority should be their comfort and well-being,” Muise said. “He could have died on that floor.” When doctors saw Fenwick, Muise said her mother was given medication for her nausea and an IV to replenish her fluids. She was told that her white blood cell count was elevated, but received no other information about her condition. Fenwick said she didn’t remember much of her time at the hospital, but she believes the problem lies in the way cases are organized after patients are admitted to the ER.
“They need to fix it,” says a Halifax resident
Jessica Engram of Halifax also said she feels failed by the health care system. Engram underwent a routine colonoscopy at Dartmouth General Hospital in November 2021. Just hours later, Engram said she began experiencing severe stomach pains and vomiting. Engram said she went to the QEII and was initially told she might be experiencing constipation. After several hours of waiting, Engram said scans revealed that a section of her intestine was dying and it was possible that the colonoscopy had displaced her intestinal tube. When he was diagnosed, he was operated on and 130 cm of intestine was removed. The whole ordeal took about 12 hours. “They need to fix it,” Engram said of the health care system. “How many others will go through this?”
Houston says ‘shame’ on health care critics
But Premier Tim Houston had a terse message this week for anyone critical of the provincial health care system. NS Premier Tim Houston at Province House on April 22, 2022. (Robert Short/CBC) “If you get sick in this province, you will get extremely good care,” he said. “Shame on anyone who suggests otherwise.” Speaking after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Houston said the changes were being implemented quickly. “The amount of work that’s happening in the health care system, the speed with which health professionals are responding and with changes and improvements, the collaboration we’re seeing with health professionals, it’s absolutely amazing.”
