A Nova Scotia mother is voicing her frustration with the province’s health-care system after waiting more than 17 hours in an emergency department with her sick 10-month-old son.
Amber Clark of Scotsburn, N.S., said she arrived at the nearby Aberdeen Hospital on April 22 at about 12 p.m. following a recommendation from an 811 telehealth representative.
Her son, Sawyer, was suffering from worsening chest congestion and fever. Upon arrival, she was told that the longest wait time was about two hours.
She didn’t leave until around 6 a.m. the following morning.
“The current state of health care in Nova Scotia is absolutely beyond broken,” she said during an interview with Global News on Wednesday, adding that patients routinely crowded into the waiting room as the hours passed.
“It was a little over 17 hours altogether; waiting in the emergency room for a 10-month-old baby with congestion and breathing concerns. I was shocked. I was running out of milk, diapers, everything. I didn’t prepare for this.”
Clark said she contemplated leaving halfway through her 17-hour wait. She decided to stay put because she wanted to avoid adding additional hours to an already time-sensitive situation.
“I was in shock towards the end that it took so long. I was just in disbelief,” Clark continued.
She said she wasn’t the only parent waiting excessive hours for a physician to assess their sick child, as she noticed several other infants waiting overnight during her time in the emergency department.
“It’s really disheartening … this is 2024 and we’re waiting 17 hours with sick babies in emergency rooms.”
Province responds
Following a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Nova Scotia’s Health Minister Michelle Thompson said the government is doing “everything we can” to improve the system.
“We are very sorry for people who have to wait, particularly with a little person, with a baby, in our health-care system and emergency department,” she said while speaking to reporters.
Thompson said that amount of time it takes for a patient to access a doctor is based on the information obtained during the triage process.
“That doesn’t mean when you have a lower acuity triage scale that you don’t need to be there. We recognize people go there for care and know that they expect it.”
Although she couldn’t speak directly to Clark’s experience, Thompson said the province is working to ensure “alternative spaces” exist in emergency departments to accommodate children while they wait.
“I don’t want people to lose heart. I don’t actually know what was happening in the department that day,” she continued.
“I know people feel very badly about that long wait, not only for her, but for others, and we’ll continue to look into that to understand what happened that day to see if we can learn from that event.”
The incident was first brought forward by the Nova Scotia NDP in a Wednesday morning release, as the provincial party issued a statement highlighting the challenges that Clark faced.
“After her 17-hour wait Clark and her son were seen and sent home with medication to help him recover,” the release noted. “About 35 per cent of ER patients at the Aberdeen Hospital don’t have a family doctor. In 2023, over 3,700 patients left the Aberdeen ER without being seen.”
In a statement, Claudia Chender, leader of Nova Scotia’s NDP, said these challenging circumstances are “the reality” of accessing emergency medicine across the province.
“We need to massively invest in collaborative family doctor clinics across the province where people can get care in person from a doctor or health team and ensure ERs have the resources they need,” she said.
On Thursday afternoon, Nova Scotia Health offered a statement to Global News in response to Clark’s experience.
“While we cannot comment on individual patient care, our goal is to provide the best care possible to our patients,” said Jennifer Lewandowski, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia Health.
“That said, we have reached out to the family and have apologized the mother needed to wait so long with her young child.”
The department added that it is working to implement a “rapid response care” system to the Aberdeen Regional Hospital, which is a strategy aimed to ensure lower acuity patients receive faster treatment.
“If there are concerns, we encourage patients or families to immediately talk to their care provider and/or contact Patient Relations,” Lewandowski continued.
“Patient Relations will work directly with those involved to provide more information and address issues. This is important as decisions around treatment and after-care vary from patient to patient and from situation to situation.
‘More questions than answers’
Clark said she was informed that the substantial delay was a result of the hospital being “really backed up.”
“The emergency room was so full, there weren’t enough chairs for people. People were sitting in the hallway and filling up the hallway, it was so busy,” she said, adding that she received “so many” apologies from nurses throughout the night.
“They did go above and beyond for trying to make us comfortable … and do the best they could. It was out of their hands.”
Fortunately, Clark said her son is now recovering after receiving a bronchitis diagnosis — but the overnight wait took a toll on his existing symptoms at the time.
“He was very agitated and irritable. He was really out of sorts from waiting for so long,” she said.
Reflecting on the anxiety associated with her experience, Clark said it’s made her reconsider the prospect of raising a family in Nova Scotia.
“It left me very disappointed in the health-care system and definitely questioning, ‘Do I go back again when something else is wrong and wait 17 hours? What do I do?’,” she said.
“It leaves me with more questions than answers.”