‘I dressed the cut myself’

Grand Mira North woman complains about care at Cape Breton Regional Hospital emergency department

A Grand Mira North woman says after 11 hours at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital emergency department with a severed tendon and not receiving care, she gave up.

“It’s was still an open wound as it wasn’t addressed at all — they didn’t even look at it,” said Sandi Ferguson, 48, of Grand Mira North.

However, after going to the New Waterford Consolidated Hospital emergency department two days later, surgery was immediately booked and held three days later.

“The difference between Sydney and New Waterford was like walking into a different world. I’ve never been to the one in Glace Bay, but I’d have to say New Waterford is the leader in patient care.” Ferguson, currently a stay-at-home-mom, said it all began at about 5 p.m. on Jan. 5 while she was cooking supper for her family.

“I was cutting up an onion to put in the ground beef and I went to turn, and the tip of the knife hit the cutting board and I lost the balance of the knife in my hand,” she said.

“It came down and cut me on the top of my foot.”

She ended up with a huge gash on the top of her foot.

“Looking closely I could see white, which at first I thought was bone. I didn’t know at the time the tendon was severed.”

She knew she had to go to the emergency department.

“The only reason I went immediately was my big toe just fell over to the back. I couldn’t move it, so I knew something was wrong.”

At about 6 p.m. she arrived at

the Cape Breton Regional Hospital with her sister-in-law and saw the triage nurse.

“I said if it only needed stitches I could go and dress it myself. I didn’t want to be a burden because I’ve heard all the stories about what’s going on at the ER. The nurse said it had to be looked at as it looked like a severed tendon.”

The nurse advised Ferguson it was going to be at least a sixhour wait. As a result, she asked if it would be OK for her to go home and come back. The nurse told her it was, just to let them know when she left. The nurse put a bracelet on her arm and told her to keep it on while gone.

Ferguson left at about 7:30 p.m.

“She said they’d keep my chart out so it wouldn’t be put back at the end again.”

She arrived back at the hospital at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday and found only about three people waiting.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Sandi Ferguson’s foot showing a severed tendon she suffered after dropping a knife on her foot on Jan. 5. Ferguson, of Grand Mira North, said even though she spent hours at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital emergency room, no one even cleaned her wound or offered her a bandage.