After allegations of patients being discharged to a bench outside Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), a Victoria woman said she’s witnessed a similar practice outside Royal Jubilee Hospital for more than three years.
Julianna, who asked that her last name not be used for safety reasons, said since she moved across the street from Royal Jubilee Hospital’s emergency department in 2020, she’s seen security officers regularly bringing patients to the bus stop outside her building.
“A lot of people would be begging for help when they were left at the bus stop,” Julianna told Global News in an interview Sunday. “Obviously in a lot of pain or mental anguish.”
Last year, the Victoria resident said she called 911 for a man who was asking for help to get an ambulance to a sobriety centre – after he’d been dropped at the bus stop long after transit service had ended for the evening.
“It was so concerning to see this person with very little mobility left there still in need of help and actively seeking care,” she recalled.
Patients Julianna said, are often left at the bus stop for hours on end, and she sometimes sees the same individuals in hospital gowns or blankets when she leaves in the morning – and when she returns home from work.
“At the end of the day, they’re still there, they haven’t moved,” she said. “Sometimes the bus stop is soiled because there’s no access to use the washroom.”
Often, she said, the individuals are in distress and police are called to deal with them.
“It seems like the discharge plan is just to bring people to a bus stop and have the police take care of it,” Julianna told Global News.
Julianna is sharing her experience after Vancouver resident Remi Caudron raised concerns about seeing security personnel escorting patients from VGH to a bench across the street – dozens of times in recent years.
“It’s being used as a people dump,” Caudron said on Jan. 20. “Just left there to fend for themselves, sometimes in not much more than a hospital gown.”
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Global News requested an interview with B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix Sunday and was referred to Vancouver Coastal Health.
VGH’s operations director for Emergency, Trauma & Critical Care told Global News the hospital is currently reviewing its discharge planning procedures.
“There are some opportunities here where we can do some things better,” Lori Quinn said in an interview.
When asked how she would feel if her family member was discharged to a bench across the street from VGH, Quinn responded: “I would not say that this happens regularly. We do have processes in place and we do have teams in place to help with discharging patients and families safely and making sure that it’s collaborative and compassionate. In some situations that discharge plan is not accepted by patients, and we cannot hold patients in the hospital.”
Quinn added that VGH tries to offer the best discharge plan possible and when it’s not accepted by a patient, that is their right and their choice – and hospital staff also want to support patients’ rights and choices.
Former drug user turned harm reduction and recovery advocate Guy Felicella said patient dumping has been happening for years.
Over a decade ago when he was in the throes of addiction and living on the streets of the Downtown Eastside, Felicella said he was discharged from St. Paul’s Hospital by a doctor at 3 a.m. after an overdose.
“I told the nurse I wasn’t able to leave, and security was called and I was thrown out,” Felicella wrote in a post on X. “I slept on the concrete benches in front of the hospital.”
In January 2023, Alberta Health Services announced a partnership with Edmonton’s Jasper Place Wellness Centre to offer discharged emergency patients experiencing homelessness a safe place to recover and work towards permanent housing – with the support of community-based services.
The Bridge Healing Transitional Accommodation Program launched with 36 beds.
“It’s never been done in Canada and I think it’ll set a new standard,” said emergency physician Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti in an Alberta Health Services promotional video on the initiative designed to improve health outcomes for vulnerable people discharged from Edmonton hospital emergency departments.
Both Caudron and Julianna would like to see unhoused patients connected with social services upon discharge from B.C. hospitals.
“I’m honestly disgusted that there’s no plan for patients who are discharged who have nowhere to go,” said Julianna of what she’s witnessed in Victoria.
Julianna said the redevelopment proposal for her building even acknowledged the patient discharge issue – and the design took it into account with a fence and a gate near the bus stop.
“It’s horrific that this is normalized and accepted,” she said Sunday.
Global News has reached out to Island Health while B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix is expected to address the patient dumping allegations on Monday.
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