Dartmouth woman's painful struggle highlights N.S. paramedic shortage
CBC
As she suffered through over a day's worth of intense abdominal pains, vomiting and diarrhea last week, Liz LeClair said she thought she would die in her bed at home.
"I've had a chronic bone infection, I've had appendicitis where my appendix ruptured, I've had all kinds of things happen," the Dartmouth resident told Information Morning this week. "I have never been so scared in my entire life."
LeClair said increasingly worsening stomach pains led her to call 811 for virtual care to avoid "clogging up the system." She was told that there was a nine-hour wait to speak to a nurse and that her next move should be to call 911.
An hour after calling emergency services with no ambulance in sight, she called back and was told that there was no estimated arrival time for the ambulance.
"They could continue to have me in the pipeline, but they couldn't guarantee anyone was going to show up any time soon," she said.
LeClair's mother, a retired nurse, was with her. They worried about the long wait they would face once they actually arrived at the emergency room.
So LeClair stayed home. She dealt with about 36 hours of pain before her symptoms began to subside.
LeClair's mother monitored her, giving her fluids to keep her hydrated.
"We opted to do that because it was the less stressful of the two situations and thankfully everything resolved itself," LeClair said.
"I'm just really fortunate that I have a parent who is here with me who knew the signs and symptoms of what was going on and could help me manage it."
She hasn't been able to determine what was wrong with her during that time, though her mother believes she had a partially obstructed bowel, LeClair added.
LeClair's case highlights the struggles of the province's Emergency Health Services.
Jeff Fraser, the executive director of the EHS, told Information Morning on Thursday offered "condolences" for the situation LeClair was in and stressed the problems weren't just limited to Nova Scotia — emergency services across North America are under the same pressure.
Fraser added that demand for ambulance services has been up 10 per cent over the past year.
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