Victoria family asked to help with patient care as hospital faces staff shortages
CBC
A lack of staff at a Victoria hospital prompted nurses to seek help from the family of a patient this week, according to the patient's daughter.
Helen Bell said she was shocked when she received a phone call from hospital nurses on Monday morning, asking for help taking care of her elderly mother because they were too short staffed.
"They phoned and said that they didn't have enough staff and in order to feed her, would we please rally as a family and take turns coming in and feeding her breakfast, lunch and supper," Bell said on CBC's On the Island.
Bell said her 87-year-old mother has been in acute care at Victoria's Royal Jubilee Hospital for the past three months and cannot use her at hands right now to feed herself, so she relies on hospital staff to do that.
She said Monday's phone call is evidence that the system is stretched too thin.
"It shows the level of short staff-ness, when they are calling patient's families to come in," Bell said. "She's been in hospital for three months and for this last month, she got one shower."
Bell said she doesn't fault the staff as the nurse did the most responsible thing by calling.
"We want the hospital to be honest with us and say, yes, they're having a tough time and then we could work together," she said.
B.C. Green Party MLA Adam Olsen said he wasn't surprised to hear Bell's story about helping her mom, as the health-care system is under "crisis mode" with thousands of health-care workers away sick.
According to the province's health minister, Adrian Dix, more than 17,000 health-care staff around B.C. called in sick between Jan. 24 amd Jan. 30, 3,400 of whom were in the Island Health region.
"We've definitely heard from health-care workers who have said that they are caring for far more patients than they are comfortable with and that they are feeling very much overwhelmed by the effect that Omicron has had on the health-care system," Olsen told CBC News.
He said the Green Party has been urging the province for distribution of more rapid tests, better masks and improved ventilation in an effort to stop the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.
"It's been very challenging to get the provincial government and the health authorities to embrace the fact that we have aerosol transmission of this virus," Olsen said.
When the health minister was asked about Bell's situation during Tuesday's COVID-19 media briefing, Dix did not address the situation specifically but said families "frequently" play an "important role" in patient care.
From the Detroit Lions losing to Apple iPhones that spontaneously update, Windsorites had things that bugged them this year.
Calgary emergency rooms are “in a state of critical overcapacity” ahead of the anticipated peak of flu season — and to cope with the surge and wait-room crowding, officials are urging doctors to speed up their decisions on whether to admit patients, according to a memo obtained by CBC News.
Northern Ontario's highway system needs improvements in order to make travel safer, a highway safety advocate said.
Hundreds of thousands of used tires are piling up across Ontario as some companies responsible for tire recycling have stopped processing tires amid reduced provincial recycling regulations for tire producers, industry experts say.
People in Guelph facing homelessness will soon have a new place to go during the day.
Islanders are reminded to plan their rides ahead of holiday festivities if they plan on drinking alcohol or using cannabis.
Even before Gwen Healey Akearok began her new role as Nunavut’s Minister of Family Services, she was tuning into the Office of the Auditor General’s (OAG) hearings on the state of the Family Services department.
The racial reckoning of the COVID era saw Canada grapple with its checkered past — a process that led to statues of some foundational figures being removed, in some instances by force.
Holiday traditions are front and centre for many people at this time of year. But one Uxbridge family's Christmas tradition goes above and beyond the standard Christmas carols or holiday party.
A pedestrian is dead, and police are investigating following a collision in a north London parking lot on Tuesday afternoon.
Police have lifted a shelter-in-place order for parts of St. John's.
Nova Scotia Power is providing more information about the cyberattack on the utility earlier this year and its response in the months that followed.
A rare old-growth forest in Quebec’s Mauricie region is at the centre of a growing conflict between conservation advocates and the provincial government, after forestry roadwork was authorized in an area currently under review for protected status.