(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19) and Sheldon Spackman

"i felt helpless"

Woman refused info that elderly mom’s unit was on COVID lockdown at Red Deer Regional Hospital

Apr 29, 2022 | 1:52 PM

A Lacombe woman has questions after a very frustrating experience at Red Deer Regional Hospital (RDRH) this week.

The woman, who asked we keep her anonymous, attended the hospital at about 11 a.m. on Monday, April 29. There she sat with her octogenarian mother for 13 hours.

Her mother, who has heart issues, received some medical attention during that period, but not until around midnight was a bed found for her.

The woman says the emergency department (ED) waiting area was, “jammed to the rafters,” this on the same day a line of purportedly 14 ambulances outside Red Deer Regional made news headlines.

Wednesday, the woman returned to RDRH to visit her mom, who’d been placed on Unit 31. At the entrance, a staff member told her she wouldn’t be able to visit the unit, despite being told at time of admission that visitation was allowed.

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The woman says the staff member refused to give a reason why the visit wasn’t permitted, so she contacted a friend who works at the hospital.

That friend told the woman that the unit her mother was in was locked down due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

“It really seemed at the time that the people I was speaking to knew the reason, and either they were being told not to share, or they chose not to share. I don’t know their reasons; maybe they think people will blame them,” the woman surmises.

“I feel completely outraged. I felt helpless at the time, because that was my mother in there, and she’s elderly, and not well. I understand the risks. If there’s a COVID problem, okay, I don’t have to go up. I understand the value of isolation, but I’d still like to know what’s happening. It was very stressful.”

The woman’s sister also attempted calling the hospital to arrange a call-back about their mom’s status, and reached someone, but never got that return call.

“Even 10 hours later is better than nothing, but it never came. Something weird was going on there,” the woman says, getting emotional when asked what she’d say to AHS.

“With everything we’ve all been through the last couple years, I have a great deal of compassion and respect for health care workers. I’d just hope that AHS or staff would have the decency to be honest, and let us know what’s happening with our loved one’s care.”

The woman got into hospital to see her mom on Thursday, and she’s doing better.

rdnewsNOW contacted Alberta Health Services about the family’s ordeal, and received a statement.

“We apologize for the long wait that this patient experienced in our emergency department (ED). We have seen an increase in the number of patients in our ED, and our staff are doing their best to ensure safe care to this high volume of patients. We understand that waiting for admission is challenging and can be very frustrating. Every effort is being made to reduce capacity pressures,” the statement says.

“The suggestion that outbreak information was withheld by policy is incorrect. We’re sorry if there was any miscommunication between staff and family, but staff are never directed to keep outbreak information from patients and are free to share it.”

AHS publicly reports active acute care outbreaks online, and Red Deer Regional is listed, though specific case numbers are not. rdnewsNOW has inquired.

AHS says it would welcome the opportunity to speak with the family directly to hear more about their experience and ensure it’s been addressed appropriately.

Meantime, Dr. Mike Weldon, an ER doc at RDRH, describes the situation involving the ambulances on Monday as a circumstance of a long-term and ongoing capacity shortage.

“This is the worst it’s been,” admits Weldon. “Effectively what happens is, when all of the beds in the hospital are full, people in emergency that get admitted end up taking a bed in the ED. Then what happened on Monday night is an example of when all of those beds get full, leaving nowhere to see arriving emergency patients, except in the waiting room and consequently backing up the ambulances that were there to drop people off.”

The ability to provide ample care when this happens is severely diminished, and Weldon predicts it’s a situation that will re-occur.

“Wait times are going to get very long and we may be providing care in non-standard places, including the waiting room,” he believes. Weldon says if in doubt, come to the ER where triage will tell you whether or not you need hospital care.

“A lot of staff have left through the stress of the pandemic and that doesn’t leave us any room on that side of things, so some of the capacity issues are related to that, as well as lingering COVID-related effects,” he adds, saying workers are doing everything they humanly can, but that morale is “terrible.”

“It’s just so hard on us to not be able to provide the care we know central Albertans and Red Deerians deserve.”