Brittany Broere is speaking out about some of the issues happening at her local hospital after a recent trip to the emergency department at the Drayton Valley Hospital and Care Centre 130 kilometres southwest of Edmonton.
“I feel absolutely horrible for the staff,” said Broere, a mother and sister from Buck Creek, Alta.
Over the weekend, Broere took her seven-year-old sister to the Drayton Valley ER for an infection. However, because the girl had COVID-like symptoms the sisters were put in an isolation room with only a chair and no bed.
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Broere said her younger sister was in too much pain to sit in a chair while waiting for a doctor, so she laid on the floor.
“I was mortified I couldn’t help her,” she said.
“I took off all my sweaters and stuff that I could to make it comfy for her. She was in a lot of pain.”
This wasn’t the first time Broere had a terrible time in an isolation room.
About two and a half months ago, Broere took her own two young sons to the same emergency department for ear infections and again only had one chair and no bed in an isolation room.
She said they waited for more than five hours for care.
“I understand the chair is not the end of the world. But when you go in there with kids, and you have one chair, somebody is sitting on the floor,” Broere said.
“We left untreated. I couldn’t sit there any longer. My back was so sore sitting on the floor.”
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In a statement, Alberta Health Services central zone communications director Heather Kipling said in many rural areas like Drayton Valley, there are no dedicated isolation rooms.
If a patient has COVID-like symptoms, hospital staff members will prepare a room for them.
Kipling also encouraged families to connect with AHS’ patient relations department to work towards a better understanding of what happened.
“To increase the number of patients seen in the Emergency Department, patients are provided with a chair instead of a stretcher, if medically appropriate. Infection prevention procedures take less time to complete through this fast-track process,” Kipling said.
“If a child must be isolated, a second chair is typically provided for the parent/guardian.
“We know this is not ideal, and we are committed to working with any patients and families to review any recent negative experiences in our facilities.”
AHS also said it has been trying unsuccessfully to hire more cleaning staff for the Drayton Valley hospital.
“We have been working to address this staff deficit and acknowledge the value of our environmental services staff to our facility’s operations.”
The emergency department has a full complement of nursing staff, according to AHS.
Broere said she hopes the situation changes.
“I’d really like to stress the fact that none of this is pointed at the hospital or the staff. My anger goes to AHS and the higher-ups. I don’t understand why they can’t do better, especially for these tiny hospitals,” Broere said.
A spokesperson for Alberta Health directed questions to AHS.
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