‘I’m doing it because I’m scared’: N.S. woman organizes rally after ER deaths | 24CA News
A Sydney, N.S. girl is organizing a rally to name on the province’s politicians to enhance well being care as soon as and for all, as news of emergency division deaths make nationwide headlines.
“I’m doing it because I’m scared. I’m scared for myself, scared for my family, my friends, and people on my island and my province,” stated Jennifer MacDonald.
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The rally, dubbed a ‘March of Concern,’ will probably be held exterior the Cape Breton Regional Municipality metropolis corridor on Jan. 21 at 11 a.m.
MacDonald stated she was spurred to do one thing, after news of the deaths of Charlene Snow and Allison Holthoff. Both ladies died final month after ready hours for care at two of the province’s emergency departments.
“(Nova Scotia Health Minister) Michelle Thompson has said that ER deaths are unacceptable, so I don’t understand why we’re still accepting them,” stated MacDonald.
Last month, her household skilled the state of affairs firsthand.
MacDonald stated they introduced her mother-in-law to the Cape Breton Regional Hospital emergency division due to hassle together with her coronary heart and a few respiration issues.
Jennifer MacDonald has organized a rally in Sydney, N.S. in response to news of latest ER deaths within the province.
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While ready, she stated they bumped into somebody they knew, who had been ready about eight hours and had solely consumed a popsicle throughout that point.
“Another woman that was there … was trying to get some some attention to use the washroom because she was not able to get there herself. And after asking four times, this woman urinated herself,” MacDonald recalled.
After ready about seven hours, MacDonald stated her mother-in-law gave up and left.
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It’s an expertise many different sufferers and health-care staff have spoken out about. In early December 2022, an emailed letter to workers on the Dartmouth General Hospital stated the stress on the ER had risen to a degree the place there was no area to evaluate sufferers, and one in 10 folks weren’t being seen — giving up and leaving.
In an interview aired on The West Block this weekend, Premier Tim Houston stated he takes it “very personally” when somebody is misplaced in “tragic situations” like those which have made headlines.
He additionally stated Canada’s health-care system is “on the ropes.”
“I believe in the public system, and I think that we can work together as provinces with the federal government to salvage our system of Medicare,” he stated.
MacDonald stated she organized the upcoming rally to ship a message to Houston and different politicians.
She needs to know if the premier will maintain an emergency session within the legislature, as requested by the opposition. She additionally needs to ask Houston whether or not he plans to handle the health-care state of affairs throughout his go to to Cape Breton to talk to the business group later this month.
“Would you meet with relevant members of the medical community to hear their suggestions for improving things?” she stated.
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She stated folks within the province are “scared” that once they want live-saving well being care, it gained’t be there.
“I don’t know the answers. I certainly don’t get paid to come up with the answers. And that is not my job. That is their job, and I don’t feel like they’re doing it,” she stated.
“If you can’t address this, can you at least tell us you can’t? Can you at least say people are going to die? Because if that’s the case, there’s a lot of us that have to make some plans. And we just want honesty and we want to be spoken to as people.”
MacDonald stated she’s beneath no phantasm it would require greater than a rally and letters to politicians to enact change. However, she believes it’s essential on a regular basis residents apply stress and converse out.
“I don’t normally do this kind of thing. I’m absolutely terrified doing this kind of thing. But I really felt compelled to do it because I feel like this is the time,” she stated.
“When you have people in an emergency room and they die, they’re. It’s time to say something.”
— With a file from Rachel Gilmore
