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Re: Newmarket cancer patient launches Carebags to support others on their journeys, Sept. 4, 2024.
My heart goes out to Bonnie Luciano for the treatment she did not get and to the ER staff who don’t have enough arms and hands and people to do what they know needs done.
I am so sorry that she left Southlake Regional Health Centre worse than when she arrived with no (or forgotten) treatment, no bed.
My son was admitted to the orthopedic ward after knee surgery. He was taken to the farthest room from the nursing station and left in the doorway — no bell, no nurse coming by, no access to a washroom. Finally, one nurse came by to set up an antibiotic IV (automated), but she couldn’t make it work, so she left, never to be seen again.
The next morning, my son was to be discharged and a nurse put him in a wheelchair and went to get discharge papers. We never saw her again either. Chris wheeled himself to the elevator and managed to get to the front entrance, where a construction worker helped him get in my van. I doubt the staff on ortho even realized he was gone. That was a couple of years ago.
Just a couple of months ago, I went to the ER with pneumonia and exacerbated COPD. Again, the staff were very busy. I couldn’t get a drink of water neither for love nor money.
After a few hours, a bed was found for me in what is called the overflow section. That’s about 10 cubicles in the day surgery unit.
No sugar, salt, pepper, tea, coffee, showers. Dietary didn’t even know we were there, so no meals unless our nurse called for them. Breakfast was cold cereal, skim milk and, if you were lucky, a spoon. Lunch was a sandwich that a six-year-old could have made better. And dinner? That usually arrived about 6:30 p.m. after three phone calls and had been reheated so many times that it was inedible. Thank goodness for relatives that brought food and Timmy’s.
But our two nurses were kind, thoughtful and caring. I got to come home after six days. Some of my cubicle mates were there longer, but we all helped each other.
So, our hospital is too small, too understaffed and can’t take on any more. Give our medical/nursing staff kudos for sticking with their jobs. Demand better health care. I don’t want booze in corner stores. I want our health care to be as good as it was decades ago, before successive governments tore it apart.
Hang in there, Bonnie. Yours is a rough road. I will pray that you don’t have to go through this again, but if you do, I will pray even harder.
M. Miller
Newmarket
