The family of an elder from the Red Earth Cree Nation is calling for authorities to make changes in the healthcare system following an experience at the Prince Albert hospital.
On Nov. 12, 2022, elder Catherine Head was sent to Victoria Hospital in Prince Albert to receive dialysis treatment where she had a scheduled CT scan appointment later that day. Head has limited mobility and uses a wheelchair and is unable to sit for long periods of time.
She finished her dialysis treatment at 11:00 a.m. and she waited in the ambulatory care section of the hospital for her CT scan appointment that was scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
However, it was too long of a wait for Head and her granddaughter requested a bed from the hospital staff but was told there were no beds available. Due to the excruciating pain, the granddaughter made a bed on the floor with blankets while she continued to wait.
“Those few minutes that my sister was sitting in a wheelchair were agony for her,” said Lena Flett, Head’s sister.
“Our granddaughter had no option but to help her grandmother off the wheelchair and onto the floor and she only had a thin fleece blanket that she took along with her to keep warm.”
Head goes to dialysis treatments three times a week in Tisdale but needed to a CT scan at Victoria Hospital, so arrangements were made where she would receive her dialysis treatment in Prince Albert. It was an experience full of pain for Head.
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When Flett heard from the granddaughter about her sister’s condition, she immediately went to the hospital to see her.
“I was very surprised to see her on the floor and I was very hurt for her,” said Flett. “So, I don’t know why they did not try to ease her discomfort by providing (a) bed.”
Flett said the nurses provided Head with a pillow and a heated blanket but still did not understand why they could not provide a bed for her sister. She said there was no communication between the dialysis unit and the ambulatory care unit.
After Head had her CT scan, she requested to go back home to Red Earth Cree Nation instead of seeing a doctor for the pain she was in. The drive back home is over two hours.
“I don’t know why they didn’t send her to the lab unit right after her dialysis treatment,” she said. “That way, it would have eliminated those four hours of waiting on the floor.”
Due to this experience, Head refused to seek dialysis treatment that following week as it was traumatizing and physically painful to relive through again. Flett and her family would like health services and hospitals to do better and to tend to patients that are in physical pain.
“Start treating patients … who come to the hospital more humanely,” she said. “Be considerate of their conditions, whether they’re in pain. Do everything (you) can (to) alleviate some of that pain … and not leave them unattended lying on the floor for hours.”
In an email statement to Global News, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) said that hospitals throughout the province are currently experiencing high patient volumes and during times of high demand, space in waiting rooms in emergency departments and other outpatients service areas can become limited.
“It should be noted that patient waiting, and non-care service areas are typically not equipped with beds or stretchers,” stated SHA.
“Team members do their best to provide care for waiting and registered patients and make every effort to accommodate all with compassion. This can include providing people with blankets or pillows in order to make them as comfortable as possible.”
SHA stated regarding the concern that Indigenous people may be encountering barriers to care, the SHA is committed to honouring the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation and asks those with concerns from patients and their family members are encouraged to contact their quality of care coordinators.
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