My son recently suffered a broken jaw.
We saw a surgeon for a consult the next day and the day after that he was scheduled for surgery. We were told to be at the hospital at 2:30. We asked twice what was going on but never received an answer until over two hours later at which time the night supervisor came and told us there were no beds and his surgery was postponed to wait for the doctor to call the next morning. The doctor’s office called the next day and said the doctor was sick. The following day we waited once again for a call, only to hear there were no beds.
During this time my son was told nothing to eat or drink every day before surgery. He was in extreme pain and also on antibiotics, which you can’t swallow without liquid. Not to mention the added stress put on his pregnant girlfriend and myself and trying to change job schedules to be with him.
Finally, on Friday, five days after the initial injury, he was operated on after five more hours of sitting at the hospital before being taken into the operating room.
Don’t misunderstand this, I am not blaming the hospital, except for maybe some poor communication. I realize that the staff is under extreme pressure with the amount of patients compared to what the facility was built to handle, and I feel for them.
The real problem here lies with the government expecting that the healthcare system will run on no funds and not enough staff to support a growing population.
This is not exclusive to Duncan, but is widespread throughout B.C., and the fault lies with our provincial government. You can bet that if Christy Clark’s son had a broken jaw he would not be suffering and waiting five days before being operated on! So please remember this on election day come this spring.
That having been said, I would like to thank very much his doctors — Dr. Melo, his oral surgeon, and Dr. Anzarut, his reconstructive surgeon, plus his anaesthesiologist, the two nurses in ambulatory care, also Sheri and the gentleman in OR when I picked him up for their caring and compassion. Thank god he had a great team.
G. Montgomery
Duncan