A while back I wrote a column commending the treatment I received from Niagara Health. That exemplary treatment was delivered by the Walker Family Cancer Treatment Centre. I now believe that clinic might be an almost entirely separate entity from the balance of the Niagara health care system.
An old adage suggests, there is another side to a coin.
Recently, my wife took a fall in a parking lot. Like me she is a senior, and was obviously injured. Fortunately, there were two volunteer firefighters who witnessed the fall and provided first aid until the ambulance arrived in a timely fashion and transported her to the Welland Hospital site. In retrospect, that decision was an unfortunate choice. It was the start of a horror story that should never happen to anyone, let alone a senior.
At this point we wish to clearly, adamantly and unequivocally declare that the medical staff were as professional and compassionate as they could be in a facility that would challenge anyone’s skill set. In our view, they too are victims having to work in this unwholesome place and atmosphere aptly called the Emergency Room. It is in itself actually an imminent emergency.
First it was diagnosed that my wife had a broken wrist, and was put in a cast. She also had a bleeding head wound, which was bandaged and leaking blood. A CT scan was ordered but the local equipment was inoperable and awaiting repair, so my wife was transported to the Niagara Falls site where, luckily, that machine was in working order.
Upon return to Welland, she was placed in a less-than-private stall akin to a barn-like shape for storing horses. Shortly thereafter my wife was triaged to a hallway as someone presumably more in need of care was given the stall.
At this point, moving to what is casually referred to hallway medicine, the travesty of Niagara’s health care system dropped to a level some measures below a dog pound.
The travesty of Niagara’s health care system dropped to a level some measures below a dog pound
She was rolled to a position in a hallway just below a nurses’ station. Bright lights, phones ringing, patients hollering for service were just some of the disturbances. The cot was old and the plastic covering had gaping holes in it. A not-so-sanitary conveyance. There were a number of patients crowded into this hallway that was littered with cabinetry and diagnostic equipment. Likely it would be declared a fire hazard. Passing carriages bumped into the cot as the passageway was narrowed by soiled laundry barrels and all sorts of debris, medical and otherwise.
It was clear there were too few doctors, too few nurses, too few PSWs and way too many patients. The problem is that once treated in the Emergency Room there are no beds available in the recovery areas and so the patients are stored here like cords of wood.
After three days of no sleep, intense disruptions and a scarcity of care, the Emergency Room doctor suggested my wife might do much better at home and under the constant supervision of family members and a crew of PSWs.
Upon release her hair was matted in blood and no washcloth had touched her face. There is absolutely no doubt that Niagara’s health care system is in desperate shape and in need of immediate relief. Statistics show that many jurisdictions outperform this deplorable status and with less spending. Are patients in the Welland Hospital casement area second class citizens?
No adroit revamping will improve the local system without investing more. This is an economic reality and not fiction. For instance, the Canadian Institute For Health Information reports that Canada spends $1,694 per person on health care as compared to $2,549 in France. Canada has 2.5 doctors per thousand people and Denmark has 4.3. Another reality is that under-resourced systems will undoubtedly under-perform. Hmm, should we twin a skyway, dig a tunnel for vehicles, or invest in our people’s health care?
For certain, any and all approaches will not resolve the system without investing more in medical personnel and facilities. It is just tomfoolery to think otherwise.
Things won’t change until we elect politicians who will unequivocally devote themselves to immediately working tirelessly to improve our health care system.
Be aware: Don’t get sick in Welland.
And now, what’s your job? Write a letter, send an email to your Premier, MP and MPP. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
