Friday evening John & I decided to take Helena to the ER. She'd been acting unlike herself for days, had had a fever for almost 48 hours, and seemed to be getting less relief with each new dose of Tylenol.
We walked in the ER doors at 6:40. The triage nurse checked Helena's vitals, gave her more Tylenol, and told us it would be a 1 to 3 hour wait. The first 2 hours went by quickly. The third stretched on and on while we started to recognize the different characters from the Disney Junior commercials, as we'd already watched their shows. At exactly 3 hours, John went up and asked how much longer we'd be waiting. The answer, "Helena's name is next in her area."
What did "her area" mean? After 50 minutes of waiting to find out, I asked how much longer it would be. "Her name should be called soon."
And so it was ten minutes later. We saw a doctor within a couple minutes of being put in a room, Helena was checked out, it was determined she just had a virus, and we were sent into an in-progress waiting room to rehydrate her with Pedialyte for the next hour so that her vitals could be checked again. By the time she was discharged, it was 12:15.
If you do the math, that means we were at the ER for 5.5 hours.
FIVE AND A HALF HOURS.
According to the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care in December 2011, our wait was only 45 minutes longer than the average ER visit to this hospital for a minor condition. And when we asked the nurse if the night was particularly busy, she looked at us with a quizzical look and answered, "No, actually tonight we're a bit slow."
It's not just here in Toronto. In 2008, a man died in a Manitoba ER after waiting 34 hours. In a quick google search, I found recent articles from Vancouver, Ottowa, and Toronto discussing the crowds in the ER. Perhaps my friend said it best in an email about our visit:
"That's Canada...sorry. ERs in Canada are the worst place to be in Canada... it's a huge Canadian issue and has been for quite some time...5 1/2 hours is actually pretty good. :("
According to the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care in December 2011, our wait was only 45 minutes longer than the average ER visit to this hospital for a minor condition. And when we asked the nurse if the night was particularly busy, she looked at us with a quizzical look and answered, "No, actually tonight we're a bit slow."
It's not just here in Toronto. In 2008, a man died in a Manitoba ER after waiting 34 hours. In a quick google search, I found recent articles from Vancouver, Ottowa, and Toronto discussing the crowds in the ER. Perhaps my friend said it best in an email about our visit:
"That's Canada...sorry. ERs in Canada are the worst place to be in Canada... it's a huge Canadian issue and has been for quite some time...5 1/2 hours is actually pretty good. :("
4 comments:
Your emergency waiting room had a TV? Lucky! ;o)
I feel like I need to add a caveat to my quote. An ER is the worst place to be in Canada...unless you're dying! My father walked into an ER believing that he was having a heart attack. He was seen as soon as he walked through the doors and provided with all of the emergency care that he needed. He did not have to pay anything for receiving this care, nor for the very expensive medications that were given to him to inhibit the possible heart attack.
Lydia, I'm so glad your dad was treated quickly and is now okay! Perhaps I should have included in my disclaimer that I'm also not trying to put down Canada's health care system.
5hrs unfortunately is a quick visit. Lately, I've been seeing people in the waiting room for 6-7hrs, then waiting another couple hrs for treatment and response to meds. And we often have 7 people on stretchers in our hallway. It's too bad they didn't start the rehydration at triage (we do that at LMH). Glad that she is doing better. Sorry for your VERY long evening.
Why am I learning about this by your blog??????? I'm glad she's okay. Surviving that wait sounds like a task in and of itself! - Auntie Katie
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