In crowded N.B. hospital, 88-year-old woman placed in supply room while waiting for nursing home | 24CA News
The daughter of an 88-year-old girl who spent a part of Thursday in a provide room at an overcrowded New Brunswick hospital says she’s alarmed by the shortages of area and employees within the province’s well being amenities.
Karen Totten photographed her mom Irene MacNeill of Barnesville, N.B., mendacity in a provide room on the Saint John Regional Hospital, with a mattress sheet hung as much as give her some privateness and carrying darkish glasses to assist her relaxation in an space the place lights couldn’t be dimmed. The picture reveals the lady surrounded by containers and medical provides.
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Totten, a 65-year-old resident of Upham, N.B., says she printed the disturbing photographs as a result of she’s grow to be alarmed by the employees shortages, the lengthy wait time for her mom to obtain a nursing dwelling mattress, and the dearth of area within the hospital.
“Our system is really broken. How can (Premier Blaine) Higgs be reporting a surplus? If he has a surplus … get us some nurses and doctors and fix this mess that we knew was going to happen years ago,” she mentioned, referring to the Progressive Conservative authorities’s just lately introduced $135.5 million projected funds surplus for 2022-23.
She says she discovered her mom mendacity within the provide space on Thursday after MacNeill was moved out of her room as a result of it was wanted by a affected person who required entry to oxygen provides.
Totten says she and her father, John MacNeill, departed the hospital in tears after observing Irene MacNeill’s circumstances.
“I had my mask on. I was crying. And one nurse brought me the number for the patient advocate, and another nurse asked if I was OK, and I replied, ‘No, I’m not OK,”’ she mentioned.
Totten says she discovered after her departure that MacNeill had been moved to her personal room, however wonders what would have occurred had she not arrived to go to.
A spokesperson from the Horizon Health authority was not instantly obtainable for remark.
The Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents’ Rights issued a report earlier this week primarily based on information compiled from regional nursing dwelling ready lists. It discovered there are at present 833 individuals awaiting a spot in a New Brunswick nursing dwelling, and of these 483 are occupying a hospital mattress.
Totten mentioned her mom, who has macular degeneration in her eyes, has been in hospital for near 90 days awaiting a nursing dwelling spot since she fell within the household dwelling and injured herself.
Rebecca Howland, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social Development, mentioned in an e mail it’s essential to recall that some sufferers ready in hospitals “require a high level of care, which can only be accessible in facilities such as nursing homes.”
“The department has added staff to hospital teams to help with the discharge process. They help find alternate solutions, when available, including interim placements and safe home support options for individuals waiting for placement in long term care,” she wrote.
She added that the nursing dwelling ready checklist “changes frequently,” with roughly 150 new residents accessing nursing dwelling beds in New Brunswick each month.
However, Totten says the tempo of change is simply too gradual.
“I hope this stirs things up so people realize, we have to do something now,” she mentioned.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Dec. 17, 2022
© 2022 The Canadian Press
