Department of Glacial Emotion

thedailywhat:

Oh, Canada of the Day: You know how you fall and break your hip in the lobby of hospital but don’t worry about it because you think “at least I’m in a hospital”? That’s exactly what happened to 82-year-old Doreen Wallace.

Defying common sense, however, the staff at Niagara Falls’ Greater Niagara General Hospital did nearly everything in their power to prevent Wallace from getting treatment.

Firstly, they told her she would have to wait until an ambulance was called. Then, they kept her on the ground for 30 minutes without any assistance. Lastly, they wrapped her head — which was bleeding from the fall — in a dirty blanket, and had a security guard wipe away the blood with a paper towel.

Oh, and did I mention that Wallace was at the hospital visiting her dying husband? 

“It was horrible,” Wallace told the Toronto Star. “Everybody who walked through the door stopped and stared at me.”

At some point, an orthopedic surgeon walked by and helped Wallace onto a wheelchair. By then the ambulance had finally arrived — from a different hospital — and Wallace was taken to be treated… 50 yards away.

“Clearly this is very disappointing and isn’t the standard of care that people should expect,” Ontario’s Minister of Health Deb Matthews said.

Dr. Kevin Smith, the Niagara Health System’s supervisor, attributed the sorry ordeal to a case of miscommunication and the staff’s poor understanding of how to deal with an in-hospital injury. He says a review of the hospital’s policy concerning the paging of ambulances for on-site emergencies is being reviewed.

NHS has apologized to Wallace, but she would much rather have the hospital ensure that she’s the last person this happens to. “All I want is that if this happens again,” she said, “nobody’s treated like that.”

[thestar / canpress / gawker.]