A Langley, B.C., family is sharing their health care experience after they say they spent hours in the emergency department with their extremely sick toddler.
Joel and Stefanie Ackley said after waiting two hours at the Langley Memorial Hospital on Jan. 26, medical officials checked their two-year-old Gracie’s vitals. Gracie had a fever of 103. A nurse gave Gracie a Tylenol to help bring it down.
“It was hard because she was looking at me for help, and I couldn’t give it to her. It hurt me,” Gracie’s father Joel said.
“She was having a lot of trouble breathing. She was taking two breaths at a time.”
Joel said by the time a doctor arrived and ordered an X-ray, which confirmed Gracie had pneumonia, the family had been at the ER for nearly nine hours.
When Global News inquired about the situation, Fraser Health said staffing issues amid a busy respiratory virus (RSV) season are leading to wait times.
“We hope that no child has to wait a significant length of time,” said Dr. Craig Murray, Fraser Health’s regional medical director.
“I can’t speak to the specifics of the case, but I would just say that there are times way outside of our control when a lot of patients show up at once or the department is really busy, either with a high volume of patients or very, very sick patients.”
The family said they think Gracie should have at least had her vitals checked when they arrived in the emergency room.
“She should have been seen right away. As soon as she checked in, she should have had her vitals checked,” Joel told Global News.
Gracie was also diagnosed with RSV and asthma and as the family awaits more test results, they want answers from the hospital.
“Let’s figure this out and get something going for everybody so that we’re not left in the dark wondering if we go to the hospital, are we going to walk out?” Stefani Ackley said.