CALGARY – Leona Fortune says her son has always had a big heart, but 18-year-old Robert Hogan has also struggled with issues related to mental health since he was just a little boy.
“When he feels a lot of stress, it’s really hard for him to work through those feelings; he just sort of reacts.”
Fortune says when her son is very stressed he will hurt himself. He regularly sees a therapist but earlier this month, Hogan hit a breaking point.
“He had a kind of blow-up. I called 911 to ask for help to get him to the hospital,” Forturne recalled.
“To see your child hold a knife to his throat, that’s where it ended up, he was feeling so bad.”
Hogan was taken by police to the emergency department at Calgary’s Peter Lougheed Centre. Fortune says her son was put into a secure room within the emergency department where he could be monitored and kept safe. Doctors told her Hogan needed to be admitted to the hospital’s psychiatric short stay unit, a unit designed to help patients in crisis.
“Unfortunately there were no beds available and there were 10 patients ahead of Robert on the waiting list,” she recalled.
Fortune says her son spent nearly 60 hours waiting in the secure room before finally being admitted to hospital.
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Alberta Health Services admits when it comes to acute care mental health beds, the system is in need of additional capacity.
“We could always do with more resources, absolutely, and more capacity to meet the needs of the growing city that Calgary is,” said Dr. Bev Adams, department head of psychiatry for Alberta Health Services.
Calgary currently has 274 acute care mental health beds including 189 adults spaces, 20 geriatric spaces and 49 spaces for children or youth patients. But for patients in crisis, there are only 16 short-stay beds plus two more for overflow, and officials says those beds are always full.
Suicide is a leading cause of death among teens and young adults. If you suspect someone is in immediate danger of hurting themselves, call 911. The distress centre also operates a 24-hour crisis line at 403-266-HELP (4357). People looking for mental health support can also contact Access Mental Health or the Canadian Mental Health Association.
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