A Coquitlam woman says she was barred entry from the emergency department at Eagle Ridge Hospital and fears other sick people aren’t getting help because of strict protocols during COVID-19.
“It’s actually ridiculous, hospitals are empty of patients right now,” Kristina Clifford told the Tri-City News after what she says was a stressful confrontation with health care workers at the Port Moody hospital.
On Monday, while suffering from a severe migraine that left her dizzy and her eyesight blurry, Clifford, a single mother of two, was driven to the Eagle Ridge emergency department.
She had her Care Card ready, was wearing a mask and had wiped her hands with sanitizer to be safe.
But instead of seeing an ER doctor, Clifford was told to go to a walk-in clinic by a masked and gowned worker.
She was shocked, Clifford said, “You have to be able to help people.”
Clifford’s frustrations come as hospitals have freed up capacity to be able to deal with a surge of COVID-19 patients and while Eagle Ridge Hospital has been at 60% capacity in recent weeks, a top official said people aren’t turned away from emergency rooms if they need care.
“Anyone who requires admission to hospital is accommodated,” said Dr. Victoria Lee, Fraser Health president and CEO.
While emergency rooms are open for urgent health care concerns, such as heart attacks or strokes, Dr. Lee said patients are first assessed by clinicians, and triaged depending their symptoms.
Sometimes, they may be given alternatives to a bed in the ER, such as virtual support, Dr. Lee said.
Across Fraser Health, emergency room admissions in the health region’s 12 hospitals are down between 600 to 1,000 visits a day, a reduced capacity that is also reflected at Eagle Ridge Hospital, Lee said.
However, she disagrees that people are turned away from care when they need it.
“We’ve done quite a bit of outreach to clinicians and publicly. Those who require emergency are not turned away, it’s very important people with heart disease, stroke we need to see those people in an emergency department.”
Meanwhile, growing numbers of people are seeing doctors virtually.
Two years ago, Clifford said, a visit to the ERH emergency department resulted in timely help and “a cocktail” of medications for the same symptoms. This time she was denied and suffered pain and stress although on Tuesday she was able to speak to her doctor by phone.
“This kind of stuff shouldn’t be happening, COVID or not, people should be able to get into emergency.”
For government modelling on COVID-19 cases, visit here.
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