Healthcare During COVID

During the pandemic our healthcare system was overloaded, leaving non-COVID and some COVID patients stranded and healthcare workers over worked.

My symptoms of Endometriosis started in August of 2020, in the middle of the pandemic.

In the middle of the night in late August, my heart was racing over 200bpm. My francè drove me to the hospital around two in the morning and the emergency room was packed. We were stopped at the door and told my fiancè couldn't come in with me. We didn't know how long I would be waiting for, or if I would be admitted so we avoided the pricy parking fees and he drove home.

The triagge nurse assessed me and rushed me into a backroom for a ECG, then ascored me to the COVID waiting area because chest pain is a symptom. Once they called my name (3 hours later), I waited for the doctor in the room for another hour. My montior was going off because of my heart and nurse after nurse would come in and reassure me that a doctor would be attending me shortly.

Once the doctor finally came in, he did NOT assess me and told me it was anxiety and sent me home.

Article from Global News

The past few months have been all-consuming torture for 22-year-old Sarah Hargreaves.

“It’s just not fair. This is a nightmare.”

Hargreaves lives with endometriosis and is in constant paralyzing pain, trembling nearly all day long. Her pain is so intense she said it triggers multiple seizures a day.

“My stomach pain was crucifying, it was sharp pain, and I couldn’t work. Finally, when I went to hospital, I was having seizures,” Hargreaves said. “It’s difficult because I just feel like I’m not getting the help I need anywhere.”

Hargreaves has been rushed by ambulance to the ER numerous times. She said she is in a perpetual cycle of being discharged and given pain medications but little else.

“They are not prioritizing people who don’t have COVID — at all,” Hargreaves said.

She can’t be left alone. Her mother and her fiancé, Drake Rendle, have both taken leave from work to care for Hargreaves at home. Rendle is desperate to get her admitted to hospital for treatment.

“I’m begging them to keep her in for a night. I would do anything for this girl,” Rendle said. “It’s heartbreaking, and I feel helpless. There’s only so much I can do.”

“Even my doctor said I can’t be discharged from hospital, yet I was discharged because there’s too many COVID patients,” Hargreaves said.

She said she has been waiting months for tests and needs surgery to manage her condition.

“I need exploratory laparoscopic surgery to ease symptoms. It feels like everything is crashing in on me, and my head just hurts. It’s making me crazy. I don’t even know what to do anymore,” Hargreaves said.

Hargreaves is advocating for herself and others who have chronic conditions and need treatment.

“People aren’t alone if they have a condition,” Hargreaves said.

“We need to stand up for one another.”

“You look at her going through this pain, and she’s trying to help others. That says so much about this girl,” Rendle said.

Premier Jason Kenney said he acknowledged the stress on the system but says the province is managing.

“I think we are doing relatively well, all things considered, in managing both the imperative of COVID care but also non-COVID-related health care,” he said.

“That’s not to say that people haven’t been affected, but the data we have is that we’ve largely caught up where we’re following that very closely.”

- Sarah