Alberta must make mental wellness a bigger part of health care
It’s critical we improve system that failed Longridge family, Danielle Bourque writes
A young woman left to care for her mother with little support from a health care system that promises to provide every Canadian the best access to health care services, Rachael Longridge was an influential and close friend of mine during our journey to becoming registered nurses.
Her death shook the foundations of a system we should trust.
Once details began to surface regarding the circumstances that led to the death of my friend, I began to question how. How could a system Rachael was so ready to commit her life’s work to fail her in such a grotesque manner? How, as a nurse, am I able to affect change, when these realities are more common than the public is aware.
Many people have stated this case was the perfect storm. It was more than a perfect storm; it was a catastrophic earthquake that featured tensions building beneath the crust for decades. Those tensions were the dysfunction and broken mentalhealth system that failed the Longridge family.
As a nurse, you become keenly aware of the organizational culture that exists within the health care system — and it is a criticism all health care providers do not voice often enough.
Christine Longridge was admitted to the hospital one month before the death of her daughter, and was released after eight days. Her lawyers stated it was unclear why she was released so soon and with half the regular dose of her medication coupled with her severity of symptoms — a detail that has never sat right with me.
In some sense, I felt like I failed her as a nurse and friend. However, the sad reality is access and followup mental health services are difficult, and rife with stigma, judgments and stereotypes. Nurses are exhausted and deal with the moral burden of having no place to keep patients, and when patients fall through the cracks, catastrophic events like this happen.
Nurses rely on a health care system where they can do their job, but it is becoming increasingly evident nurses’ voices and professional ethical standards do not stand up against a health care system built on consumerism and driven by a medical model of health that does nothing to address the mental, emotional and spiritual nature of nursing care.
When we prioritize physical ailments over mental ailments, these patients are often dumped on families who do not have the resources and support to care for their loved ones. Families who do understand the severity of their loved one’s mental illness, who try and reach out to the health care system, are met with deaf ears.
How many times does a family have to go to the emergency room and wait upwards of six or more hours to be seen and sent home for a mental health crisis to be heard?
Rachael and her family knew how exhaustive this process is, and unfortunately it was a catalyst in Rachael’s death.
Perhaps as health care providers we need to remind ourselves that we are that bridge for patients, letting them know they are not alone. As a nurse, I can have a detrimental effect on someone’s life, and this tragedy has reaffirmed the gaps in mental health services, and the role of nurses as advocates.
If only someone was able to advocate for Rachael when she was seeking care for her mother. If only health care professionals had not closed the doors or drawn the curtains, rendering Rachael’s family and mother unimportant and dispensable. Perhaps Rachael may still be with us today.
Mental wellness practice must be part of the solution to prevent similar tragedies from happening. We cannot stand by and watch people die as a result of poor access to mental health services within the hospital or community.
Just as a natural disaster lays hope for the rebuilding of new foundations, I call on Alberta Health Services to do better. We must do better, as nurses, physicians, and a health care system.
Otherwise, we are enabling a system that marginalizes some of our most vulnerable patients.