Powell River General Hospital

Google only allows 4,000 words so my review was cut off... My experience with the Powell River Hospital on August 5, 2020 at 12:30pm left a lot to be desired. I had a bleeding gash on my head which my partner had stanched using a gauze pad. When I went to the reception area, the employee looked at me & pointed to the sign advising I need to place my medical card in the tray provided. I did so, she entered some info and made note that I was not a resident of Powell River, and confirmed my primary residence address. She then looked at me & said "what happened?" The way it was asked and her general demeanour showed a lack of empathy. I said I hit my head quite severely (which should have been obvious from the big gauze pad I was holding to my head). She then motioned that I should go into the Emergency area. My partner wished to escort me, as they were very concerned about my head injury after having examined it thoroughly at home & making the decision I needed medical help. She said "no, you are not allowed to accompany her into that area" even though we both had masks on. I was seen immediately by a nurse who ended up telling me she had just moved to Powell River from Whitehorse 5 days ago, so was brand new to the hospital. After she examined my head wound, she told me to go wait in the waiting room. I asked her if I was to go to the "large waiting room with all the people in it" to which she replied yes. What she should have clarified was the ER waiting room, which is a small area with a few chairs that had no one in it at the time. Because I was from out of town, and not familiar with the hospital, I ended up walking right by the EMPTY tiny ER waiting room (I didn't even see it probably due to my head injury) and walked into the waiting area for the lab requisitions (which was the large waiting area with all the people in it). I waited alone, and sat directly next to the entry door to the lab for 1.5 hours. Not one single hospital employee asked me if I was in the correct waiting area, which really should have been obvious from the large gauze pad I was holding on my bleeding head. In fact, the hospital employee that was calling out people's names for their lab tests looked at me numerous times, and didn't even take into consideration that I didn't have a lab requisition form in my hand and that my head was bleeding. Due to my head injury, it took me 1.5 hours before I finally went back to reception to ask if I was waiting in the correct area. She said "oh no, you are supposed to be in the ER waiting area." Excuse me? I then went back into the ER room, and they said "oh we called your name & you weren't there." They didn't even look for me. They could have easily walked to the other waiting area & found me there. Is there no PA system? Considering I am from out of town, I would think common sense would have dictated them looking for me. But no, when I walked into the ER area they all were standing around talking and seemed surprised that I was there. See my next post for continuation of my Powell River Hospital saga.

After 22 months we are actually moving our family back to Vancouver. The healthcare here is so abysmal my husband and I are genuinely concerned one of the workers here will kill us or, god forbid, one of our children, due to a basic lack of common sense. Example? OK, my daughter has had diabetes for 12 years. Our GP called us in for an emergency apt a month ago. Naturally we rush in worried out of our minds, only for him to tell us she might have diabetes because her a1c was slightly elevated. ... there are no words. He'd seen her several times before this and her T1D was talked about numerous times. I have more examples for other "doctors" and "nurses" here but I think that story pretty much sums Powell River up.

This hospital is over run and under/improperly staffed. The nurses and doctors try to keep up but the hospital does not bother to have an adequate number of employees working to make it safe for employees and patients. I noticed this while in emergency for a simple sprain. This place is an accident waiting to happen. If you are actually sick I would try to get over to Courtenay or Vancouver

Wife and I left the place joking that the cab driver who picked us up would probably have more medical knowledge than the 'doctor' who saw us. This place is terrible. Some nuirses and technicians seemed knowledgeable and dedicated though. I also saw them turn a man with a bad sliver in his foot away at reception claiming the hospital was overly busy, then got into emergency department to see doctors and nurses standing around chatting. This 'hospital' deserves a negative rating. Does anybody who oversees medical practices pay attention to the ratings on here? I hope so.

TO: PRGH-5000 Joyce Ave., PR BC; V8A 5R3 ATTN: Nursing Administration FROM: Jasmine Brown-3525 Marine Ave, PR BC; V8A 2H5 Cell: ########## I am writing to you in regards to my unfortunate need to be escorted by my boyfriend to triage on last Sunday of the late evening of the 19th. I was admitted after explaining (more by my boyfriend) to the admitting nurse my symptoms which were hot/cold flashes, dizziness, incoherent abilities, etc. After being visited by Dr. Head, the 2 male nurses on shift conducted various procedures including an ECG, BS Testing, Chest X-Ray and other assessments including sending a sample of my urine for a complete u/a. I felt sorry for these two men because I could barely talk and nor could I physically function well enough to be of any help to them and yet they were very good to me. Later on, I was awoken by one of the male nurses who spoke directly into my Lt ear to state, “Jasmine, we found numerous drugs in your urine so you need to be honest with me…did you take anything?!” The only response that I could give with my eyes closed at the time was to only shake my head for “no” to his answer and then again I was left alone to continue to rest, but rest was not at all what was happening in my mind. “Numerous drugs? What do they mean by this? Am I going to be okay?" Later on, Dr. head returned to check in on me and he told me that there was indeed methamphetamines and MDMA in my urine. A lab nurse was also going to visit me soon to take samples later, he also said. Again, at the time I could not say anything and I only replied in 'yes or no' answers. After the lab nurse arrived, I think I finally fell into a deep and needed sleep. It was a couple of hours before I woke up feeling more alive. I could finally move my arms and my legs on command and I now knew that I could finally speak. There was so much that I needed to say to everyone and so many questions that I needed to ask. The first thing I must do is pee!!! As I quickly gathered my gown together I then slowly walked to the bathroom and I was so happy that I could even walk until I heard one of the male nurses state "to everyone", right as I was walking by, “'Party Girls’ drugs are wearing off now...." I immediately felt humiliated, lost, and again, helpless. "Is this what they think of me? Am I just a "Party Girl" and so what if I even was....." My mind began to race in bad circles... After I quickly voided my urine, I laid myself back to sleep in my triage bed until I was awakened by my boyfriend. We waited a bit but when no one came, we decided to leave. I did not want to stay a minute more. I would have felt more comfortable if I had not have heard that "Party Girl Statement" because I was truly embarrassed and shocked to do anything more during my triage stay. I assumed that almost everyone there didn't care anyways, as I was only the "Party Girl" in triage bed B2. What I want everyone to be reminded of is that nothing is always crystal clear and until you get all the information, you will possibly make a mistake which may be the cause of someone else's grief for no good reason at all. I am now left to myself while constantly 'playing the tape' in my mind of everything that I did that Sunday and I can assure you, the following may surprise you: 0700: awoke to alarm for work 0900: went to see my home care client 1100: went to my pharmacy after work 1115: went home to see my daughter (The rest of my daily agenda could not be printed out d/t too many characters and some parts of this letter is also edited accordingly.) This insane tape that I constantly play in my mind only makes me feel more helpless than the way I was also helplessly leaving triage the morning before. If there is any more information you can tell me in regards to my triage visit it will be greatly appreciated. Please don't punish anyone because I know how demanding a nurse's job is as I was also a nurse myself, years ago. Just remind them that "a book can never be judged by its cover" & no, I did not knowingly ingest methamphetamines or MDMA.