When Morgan Lanigan’s wife, Kelly, began to experience severe pain, they headed to the emergency room at St. John’s Hospital in New Britain
The first stop was St. Joseph’s Hospital, but when they got there around 7 p.m. on July 17, staff said there was no room for them and the emergency department at St. John’s Regional Hospital was facing the same capacity problem.
“She couldn’t take the pain anymore,” he said in an interview Monday.
“Then we had to face a really critical moment because when they tell you to come back at 9 in the morning, your health doesn’t wait for that.”
The emergency department in Sussex, which is about 45 minutes from St John’s, was closed for the night at around 5.30pm due to staff shortages.
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“We decided to go to the pharmacist first,” he said.
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Lanigan said the pharmacist was able to provide some advice and some Tylenol with codeine and Advil, but the root cause of the pain still remained and worried the couple.
“That’s when we made the decision to drive to Fredericton,” he said, about an hour away from St. John.
The two headed to Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital because the Oromocto Hospital emergency room, which would have been a little closer, had also been closed since 4 p.m. due to staff shortages.
1:50 NB city residents worried amid repeated emergency room closures NB city residents worried amid repeated emergency room closures
Lanigan tried to call the emergency room multiple times to no avail before he got through to them and was told they were accepting patients.
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When they arrived the waiting room was full and they were told it would be 10 to 12 hours before they could be seen. Lanigan was also unable to sit in the emergency room with his wife due to COVID-19 protocols.
He said the experience itself was difficult, trusting his wife, who was in pain and needed help, would be able to keep him informed while he sat helpless in the front seat of his car in a dark parking lot.
“We’ve been in Fredericton for three hours and we’ve yet to be triaged,” he said. “There were still five people in front of my wife that needed to be judged.”
He said his wife told him that a doctor had come in and was taking vital signs on people in the waiting room, something Lanigan found comforting, but the doctor advised that it would be better for his wife if he went home and found as much comfort as possible and try to make an appointment with her family doctor the next day.
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So they did that.
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“I don’t know what’s wrong with my wife and neither does she,” he said. “I want to be careful with my wife, I want to make sure she’s still breathing.
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He said he was afraid to close his eyes for fear that something might happen at night, not knowing what was causing his wife’s pain.
“Then knowing that if the situation worsens, I still don’t have help,” he said. “What should I do? I don’t have an answer for this. It makes sleep difficult.”
This comes just one week after Horizon Health Network confirmed that a patient died in the waiting room of Dr. Everett Chalmers’ emergency room.
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This prompted Prime Minister Blaine Higgs to fire Horizon Health Network president and chief executive Dr John Dornan and remove Dorothy Shepherd from the health portfolio.
Higgs also deleted both boards, which are elective positions, from Vitalite and Horizon Health Networks. Two receivers have been appointed.
1:58 PM Blaine Higgs replaces NB Health Minister after patient dies in ER Premier Blaine Higgs replaces NB Health Minister after patient dies in ER
Lanigan did share her experience on social media, tagging the premiere in a Twitter thread.
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“@premierbhiggs my wife needs #UrgentCare *now* but so does the St. Joe’s + Reeg’s is overbooked,” he tweeted. “AND HE WILL NOT ACCEPT HER! What the hell do I do now?! Calling an ambulance just to line up? Drive to the Fredericton ER?’
“I’m glad you fired everyone, but how does that help us now?”
He said he turned to social media because the government has been talking a lot about the new health plan that was unveiled last November. He promised to improve the ongoing crisis facing the health system. Dorothy Shepard has been outspoken about its successes, but many critics have said the plan fails to address the biggest problem of all: recruitment and retention.
“We now see that somehow that plan failed,” he said. “We have to reboot and start again.”
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Lanigan said firing leadership seems like an extreme reaction, but he believes the more hands on deck the better.
“Clearly, the boards that were in the two health networks were elected and have an interest and at least some knowledge of the health care system, and those people can still be an asset in whatever it takes to make these changes.”
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The new health minister is taking his role seriously
Newly appointed Health Secretary Bruce Fitch would not comment on the specifics of that case, citing confidentiality, but said he was taking his new role seriously.
Asked if he thought it was acceptable for someone seeking care to be turned away at several hospitals and unable to access others because of staff shortages, Fitch said he was looking at the “components” affected in the health care system.
“Part of what I want to make sure as we move forward is that we have the best care available for the people of New Brunswick, getting the care they need when they need it,” he said .
“I know that’s a bit of a blanket statement, it’s not specific to the case you’re talking about, but it’s about the whole continuum of improvements that need to happen to alleviate some of the concerns that we’re hearing on a day-to-day basis out.”
Fitch did not outline any specific plans he has to address the lack of access to emergency care in the short term, but said he has meetings scheduled.
He said there are no plans to roll back the health care plan that his predecessor Shepard unveiled in November. Instead, he plans to use it to deal with the ongoing crisis.
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Horizon Health Network did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.
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