Family of man admitted to Foothills hospital during COVID-19 outbreak says they weren’t told ‘entire story’

Carol Talarico hasn’t had much sleep lately because she’s been worrying about her dad.

The 94-year-old man went to the emergency room at Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary on Monday because he wasn’t feeling well. The next day he was admitted to unit 62.

On Friday, AHS announced that three units are now under watch status. General medicine units 62 and 36 and cardiac unit 82 are on the list.  Outbreak watch means the unit is being monitored for potential COVID-19 cases.

The units under watch are in addition to the ones that AHS had confirmed earlier in the week are dealing with outbreaks. Those are cardiac units 81 and 103A and general medicine unit 32.

Talarico’s dad was discharged on Wednesday. That’s when she said she first found out from another staff member there was a COVID-19 case on unit 62. Her family doesn’t think they were given all the information about what was happening on the unit.

“I don’t think I was exactly told the entire story.

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“This is probably something that happened, I believe, because of the stress level and likely due to understaffing. I don’t think it was intentional but it’s very distressing,” Talarico said.

Talarico has since filed a complaint with AHS over the matter. She worries about a lack of staff and for patients who don’t have anyone advocating for them, and she worries about her dad having go back to the hospital.

“If I had to bring him back in, if it was absolutely necessary I would. But I’m not exactly sure how I would proceed. I would definitely do a lot more investigation,” Talarico said.

As of Saturday, 20 patients and 18 health care workers at the Foothills Medical Centre had tested positive for COVID-19.  There are 136 health care staff from the hospital self-isolating and there have been four deaths related to the outbreaks.

Alberta Health Services confirmed Saturday evening that on Sept. 25, there was a confirmed case of COVID-19 on unit 62.

The hospital is now using overtime and reassignment to make sure the units are adequately staffed due to the number of nurses in isolation, AHS said.

AHS told Global News it did not have information on how long the units have been in “outbreak watch” status.