More questions about the emergency room

arrived at 9 a.m. He was given a tetanus shot then but when we left after 10 p.m., he still had not been seen for his stitches. When his wife had gone to see the receptionist, the receptionist told her to continue to be patient. People who weren’t patient could be dropped down the list.

While we were there a man arrived with a large nail stuck in a finger in his hand. He was sitting there for several hours. Someone near him asked him why he hadn’t pulled it out. He replied that he couldn’t because it was lodged in the bone.

For hours the patients in emergency wait and wait and wait and wait, afraid to say anything, afraid to go anywhere to eat, reluctant even to go to the bathroom in case they miss hearing their name being called. Why aren’t there vending machines for food in the emergency area? Why does it seem that since the enlargement of the emergency area it seems that staff has been reduced?

My daughter found an article on line the next day that states that the waiting time in Quebec hospitals is the worst in all of the G20 nations and longer than anywhere else in North America!

To end our saga, my daughter was called in at 10 p.m., six hours after her arrival. She was given a tetanus shot and then her two deep cuts were “glued” shut and bandaged. She was told the glue would work. If she insisted on stitches it would not happen before 3 a.m.! She mentioned the man who had been in there since 9 a.m. and asked why she was called in first. She was told that they were trying to get rid of some “quick” patients to be able to get to him. I wonder what time he was finally seen? It would have been well after the “golden time” of twelve hours!

Does anyone else have a story? Maybe if tales are told every week, something can be done to improve the service provided by our local hospital. By the way, the glue came undone on the second day. She will have some unsightly scars on her hand when the healing is complete.

Cowansville