An 85-year-old grandmother from the Coast was airlifted to the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria last Sunday for emergency surgery, but she waited four days for a pacemaker and was told she'd have to take the bus home to Sechelt after her operation."It's just despicable," said Diana Park, daughter of 85-year-old Phyllis Gledhill.
Park said she took her mother to St. Mary's Hospital after Gledhill had repeated blackouts and a very low heart rate.
Gledhill was diagnosed with a third degree heart blockage, and nurses said she needed a pacemaker as soon as possible.
Park said the nurses at St. Mary's were very kind and helpful, but they had no doctor on staff who was able to put in a pacemaker.
"The nurses and the internist were very kind and were trying their best to find my mom a hospital to have a pacemaker put in," said Park.
After four hours waiting at St. Mary's Hospital, it looked like nurses had secured a bed at Lions Gate Hospital. So Park decided to catch the last ferry to Vancouver to be with her mom.
But once in Vancouver, Park phoned St. Mary's and found out her mother was being airlifted to Victoria.
"I had her clothes and personal stuff because she was told she couldn't take it on the helicopter. So here's a proud lady stuck in a hospital gown with nothing underneath in a hospital without any friends or family around," said Park.
Once she contacted Royal Jubilee Hospital, she was told her mother had to wait for the surgery she needed.
"One time they said the doctor was too tired, and another time someone else got bumped up ahead of her," said Park.
But once Gledhill's operation was completed four days later, Park was told by hospital staff her mother would be given bus tokens to come home.
"We were told she would be airlifted back," said Park, who noted her car is very unreliable and she is not financially able to take two ferries to pick her mother up from Victoria. "Here is a lady who is 85 years old, far from home with no belongings or clothes with her, and they are going to throw her on a bus after a heart complication."
She eventually was able to arrange for a friend to pick her mother up from the hospital and drive her home, but she is very angry about the entire situation.
"I don't blame the nurses or doctors because I think they are doing the best they can with what they have. I blame the government and their huge cutbacks to health care," said Park.
Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Harold Long was unavailable for comment on the situation. His assistant, Vel Anderson, directed media questions to Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH).
Clay Adams, communications director for VCH, said Gledhill's wait for surgery was not uncommon and that local doctors decide when surgeries will be scheduled.
"The general criteria is that any urgent surgery is done within 14 days, which is clinically satisfactory. It's the national health standard," he said.
As to the promised airlift home for Gledhill, Adams said that is not standard practice. "If the patient is discharged and no medical support is needed during a trip home, or if they are not returning to a local hospital, they are not given transportation. That is standard provincial policy," said Adams.
