On July 11 an elderly died in a North Vancouver hospital after lying on a stretcher for 2 days in the waiting room which is being blamed on the provinces healthcare crisis.
Vancouver Coastal Health did not confirm the death or release any details while Health Minister Adrian Dix dodged questions and interviews about the death by reporters, they did publicly offer condolences to the family of the deceased.
Currently available information says the elderly woman was admitted to hospital on July 9 for possible heart complications and was put on a stretcher and stuffed in to the corner of the waiting room because there was no available hospital beds.
While there was initially no indication that she needed to be put on a heart-monitoring machine, she was found unresponsive in the mid-afternoon of July 11, in the same corner of the overcrowded waiting room.
A nurse that found her unresponsive called a code blue yelling for help while quickly moving the elderly lady to the resuscitation and preformed CPR, resuscitation was unsuccessful.
According to a nurse that wanted to remain anonymous said they had up to 17 other patients being monitored in the waiting room at the time.
“Every single nurse, when they gave reports, said she’s really sweet,” the nurse told the Vancouver Sun
“She’s with it, she’s understanding, she’s patient. Her daughter was here all the time. They’re lovely people. They weren’t getting angry at us. They understood. They were flexible. They were so lovely.”
When Vancouver General Hospital was asked about the incident they provided they provided hardly any details.
“this individual was assessed by a physician and received care from staff at Lions Gate,” a spokesperson said in a statement and the staff was working hard “to meet the health care needs of local communities.”
While B.C. Nurses’ Union president Aman Grewal said only VCH could release details, she is aware and concerns from around the province have been raised from this incident.
“It’s not just isolated to Lions Gate. It’s happening with Royal Columbian. It’s happening at Eagle Ridge and Ridge Meadows. It’s happening everywhere, Surrey Memorial, Langley Memorial,” said Grewal.
Canadian Medical Association (CMA) rang alarm bells in March the Canadian healthcare system was on the brink of collapse .
“On top of severe exhaustion and burnout from working through two years of COVID-19, health care workers now face both massive system backlogs and a shortage of colleagues to cope with demands,” the CMA wrote.
Despite Canada experiencing a health care worker shortage across the country with tens of thousands of workers being axed from their positions or under discipline for not being vaccinated against Covid-19.
In October last year following the punishment of 4,000 healthcare workers on unpaid leave as a result of their decision to refuse the COVID-19 vaccination, British Columbia has decided to postpone surgeries and tests.
According to Health Minister Adrian Dix, admitted last October, Covid-19 vaccine mandates were going to impact northern health and rural communities the most because of a much lower Covid-19 “vaccination” rate causing a smaller pool of causal staff to replace workers.