Power outage at Gander hospital compounds one family's struggles
While the power has been restored at James Paton Memorial Hospital in Gander, Monday's outage created some added stress for at least one family.
Wanda Pittman told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning her 85-year-old mother had been in the hospital since last Tuesday with a shoulder injury and pneumonia, but was also stationed on a stretcher for the week as the hospital told the family it didn't have enough beds.
"My mom had been on a stretcher basically in the ER since last Tuesday because they kept saying they had no beds to put her on a ward anywhere," Pittman said Tuesday morning.
"They said she was kind of in this grey area where she possibly could be released in a couple of days."
When the power went out, Pittman's mother was sent home on a 48-hour pass with antibiotics for her pneumonia and returned home to her personal-care facility in Gambo, about 50 kilometres away. The pass allowed for her to return to the hospital once power was restored and skip any paperwork.
Pittman had to make the drive herself, as no assistance of an ambulance was offered.
On Tuesday morning she received the call that she could bring her mother back to the hospital as the power was restored. Pittman was also given the option to keep her mother out of the hospital in continuation of the 48-hour pass.
She was told it took the personal-care facility staff 30 minutes just to move her mother from her bed to her chair. Staff also said she needed one-on-one treatment.
"This has been a very difficult time, and for an 85-year-old woman with a shoulder dislocation on her right side," Pittman said.
"She's had pneumonia three times or whatever, in the ER for seven days on a stretcher, with so much chaos that happens in ER and being told she's there because there's no beds and then this happens, like a snowball effect, it's very wearing. It's very disturbing."
Pittman says she now worries about other seniors who may not have family so readily available to help when emergencies such as the power outage happen.
"There's more people out there who don't have anybody. So it bothers me."
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