Nurse waits hours at Ottawa hospital for appendix surgery
Canada’s medical system is in critical condition. Wait times have reached record highs, while staffing drops to new lows.
Rylan Haas, a nurse in Saskatoon who fell ill while on vacation, says he was faced with a painful wait at an emergency room in Ottawa.
It’s not the stay Haas expected when he travelled to a music festival in Ottawa over the Canada Day long weekend.
“Wednesday morning I woke up with a bunch of stomach pain and that pain migrated down into my lower right quadrant.” Haas told CTV News. “Being a nurse I suspected my appendix had ruptured so I came into the Ottawa general hospital. I got into emergency after seven hours and after 11 hours after being in emergency I saw a doctor then my first CT scan after 13 hours.”
Haas says it was another nearly half-day wait for a surgery, adding that the time it took to receive the needed care added anxiety to an already stressful experience.
I didn’t feel like my voice was being heard,” says Haas.
The Ottawa Hospital says it cannot provide comment on specific patient cases, but in a statement, highlights the staffing difficulties faced by hospitals across the country.
“The Ottawa Hospital, much like other hospitals across Ontario and Canada, is experiencing pressure on emergency department staffing levels due to COVID-related absences, vacations, staff fatigue and burnout,” the statement said.
“The pandemic has taken an incredible toll on health-care providers over the last two+ years. Staffing is often an issue in the summer months as health-care providers take well-earned and much needed time off – this is more challenging today as EDs face the cumulative effect of consecutive years of a pandemic along with planned vacations. Additionally, periodic COVID outbreaks continue to have an impact on available ED staff resources. We will continue adapting as needed to address these staffing challenges, and ensure that patients receive the care they need.”
A nursing shortage has forced some emergency room departments to close. The Perth Hospital ER has been closed for more than three weeks, which has pushed area residents to travel at least 20 minutes to Smiths Falls in order to receive care. It is expected to reopen on July 24.
“The pandemic really added fuel to the fire,” said Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses. “We were living in a nursing shortage pre-pandemic. We were advising government we need to work on training and recruiting and then the pandemic hit.
“So many nurses left the system or went casual because they couldn’t handle the workload. They were mandated to stay at work. They were abused and insulted every day and it wasn’t worth it.”
At a premiers meeting on July 11, Silas issued a call to action, including helping internationally educated nurses enter the Canadian medical system and maintaining retention of current staff.
“We were very happy when they urgently asked Prime Minister Trudeau to call a first ministers meeting, not another study an action plan,” says Silas. “We have to stop the bleeding. We can’t let another nurse, another doctor, another personal care worker leave the system.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Alice Munro, Nobel literature winner revered as short story master, dead at 92
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Latest updates on air quality alerts, and when the smoke may reach Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Attack on prison van in France kills 2 officers, inmate escapes
Armed assailants killed two French prison officers and seriously wounded three others in an attack on a convoy in Normandy on Tuesday and an inmate escaped, officials said.
Steal a car, lose your driver's licence for 10 years under new Ontario proposal
Repeat car thieves may face lengthy licence bans under proposed changes to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.
$1.6B parts plant for Honda electric vehicle batteries coming to Niagara Region
A Japanese company has announced it will build an approximately $1.6-billion plant in Ontario's Niagara Region that will make a key electric vehicle battery component as part of Honda's supply chain in the province.
B.C. brings in law on name changes on day that child killer's new identity revealed
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Manitoba premier to visit areas impacted by wildfire
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew will get a close-up look at the devastation from a large wildfire burning in northern Manitoba Tuesday.
1 killed, 3 injured including toddler, after Hwy. 417 crash in Ottawa
Ontario Provincial Police are responding to a fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 417 in Ottawa's west end on Tuesday morning.