By Jennifer Pass
Special to the Record
Editor鈥檚 note: Names and some minor details in this story have been changed to protect confidentiality.
Meet Josie and her husband John.
John has internal health issues and as a result, a few months ago was hospitalized for a week with a serious infection. He has been well since. Until last week. We meet him in Comox Valley Hospital where he has been for a few days with heart issues. He is waiting to be sent to Royal Jubilee in Victoria for cardiac day treatment. On 鈥渄ay 3鈥� mid-afternoon Josie is told to arrange to be in Victoria the next day to pick John up (take clothes for him and shoes), and to plan to stay the night in Victoria close to the hospital after his discharge. Duly conscripted, Josie gets everything ready, arranges a hotel room and early next morning drives to Victoria where she unwinds with a walk and enjoys the lovely avenue trees already in bloom. She awaits the phone call.
The phone call comes about 6 p.m. and Josie is told, 鈥淭he procedure is done. John will be sent by 鈥榤edi-van鈥� (like an ambulance, but without an assistant and without internal medical support) back to Comox hospital.鈥�
Josie says that there must be some misunderstanding as she is here for John鈥檚 discharge and has a hotel room for the night as instructed. The head nurse is adamant that John must go by medi-van and says, 鈥淲hen they come from a hospital they go back to that hospital,鈥� and that he will be leaving at 9 p.m.
A few years before John did come by ambulance twice and Josie picked him up and stayed the night in Victoria. When she mentions this the head nurse says. 鈥淥h, don鈥檛 rely on the past!鈥� (as if Josie was a stupid old lady). Josie asks if the nurse can check with the cardiologist to see if John could possibly be released to her care. 鈥淣o, he is busy with his team.鈥�
Josie is distraught. The nurse tells her, 鈥淚f I were you, I鈥檇 drive straight back to Comox, because he might be discharged from there tonight.鈥� Josie responds, 鈥淵ou are not in your mid-70s and there is no way I can drive back to Comox tonight.鈥� She is told (even though John has now a three-hour wait for the transport), that she can visit for 鈥渘o more than five minutes.鈥� Josie plays her trump card 鈥� the infection in September that nearly cost John his life and therefore his need to be monitored by someone (as Josie has daily), but the head nurse is completely unmoved. When Josie visits, the head nurse comes over and says 鈥渉ave you calmed down now?鈥�
After exactly five minutes, Josie is told her five minutes is up. Josie trusts that Comox will not release John in the middle of the night, but she is understandably stressed about his long night-time transport back in a medi-van, after the trip down that morning by ambulance and then the procedure. She decides to leave Victoria early in the morning and go straight to the Comox Hospital.
Early in the morning Josie phones the telemetry department at the Comox Valley Hospital, and is met with compassion and understanding. 鈥淣o, of course we have not discharged him. We are so sorry this happened to you. We are as shocked as you are by the decision to send him back to our hospital.鈥�
Their kindness and empathy helped Josie on the long drive back to the Valley. When she arrived she asked the specialist (on his rounds) if there was a reason that Royal Jubilee sent her husband back to the hospital, if the cardiologist had been concerned about something that should be monitored? She was told that no, there was no reason, and that this unexplainable discharge method (back to sending hospital without that expectation by the sending hospital or the family) was happening far too often. John was discharged in a couple of hours, and both Josie and John began their 鈥渉ome recovery period.鈥�
Are you a home caregiver? Does this type of 鈥渃are journey鈥� sound all too familiar? Of course, we have to be thankful for Medicare and also for the incredible work done by specialists, general practitioners, and nurse teams across the province. But when there is a glitch in communication, the home caregiver is often the recipient of the mixed messages. She (or he) carries the worry about the effects of plan changes on their loved one and the home caregiver is the one who has to re-arrange her (or his) life to meet 鈥淧lan B鈥�. Often there is not even an apology. Are there health risks for the home caregiver as a result of these sudden unexplainable plan changes. You bet!
Josie is following up with the Patient Care Quality Review Office: 1-877 9775797; patientqualityoffice@viha.ca
Jennifer Pass is the co-ordinator of Comox Valley Elders Take Action (ETA).
