'It's very, very sad': Daughter says she was called to Victoria hospital to feed mother due to staffing shortage
Helen Bell got what she describes as an alarming phone call from a nurse at Victoria's Royal Jubilee Hospital on Monday morning, at 7:43 a.m., asking her family to feed her mother because the hospital was too short staffed to do so.
"They needed us to come in and feed my mother for breakfast, lunch and supper, if she was going to get fed today," said Bell on Monday.
Bell's mother, 87-year-old Margaret Mears, is in acute care at the hospital and is disabled. She's unable to use her hands right now to feed herself, so she relies on others to do that.
What’s more, her daughter says Mears has only been given one shower in the past month.
"You just think that those basic things of taking care of somebody—feeding them, cleaning them—should just be something we can take for granted in the hospital," said Bell.
Bell doesn't fault the staff at all, in fact she praises the nurse for doing the responsible thing by seeking help when it was needed.
She says it’s the system that’s stretched too thin by COVID, noting that staff's off work because they're sick, compounding the strain of approximately 1,000 patients in B.C. hospitals with COVID-19.
"Not only are (COVID patients) having a rough time themselves, they’re impacting other people that are in the hospital, and the hospital system is not very robust right now," said Bell.
Bell thinks the public needs to know just how fragile the health-care system is, and how big of an impact COVID-19 is having on the system.
Between Jan. 24 and Jan. 26, more than 1,800 healthcare workers in Island Health were off sick with COVID-19 or other illnesses.
Still, in a statement to CTV News, the Ministry of Health said Monday that capacity issues are not impacting the feeding of patients. However, the ministry noted health-care workers are grateful for the help of patients' families.
There's no disputing the stress that staffing shortages due to COVID have created at hospitals across B.C.
Dr. David Forrest is an infectious disease specialist who works at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. He says the biggest impact he's seen so far is staff being overworked.
"I think the major effect of this is it's causing increasing burnout amongst health-care workers, most particularly nursing staff," said Forrest on Monday.
Island health didn't respond Monday to CTV's request for a comment on this story.
The province told CTV News in its statement Monday that it will have more to announce soon regarding the significant capacity issues for healthcare throughout B.C.
For Bell and her mother, help with staffing and capacity issues is needed now
"Well, she's crying," said Bell when asked how her mother is responding to the situation. "She's not getting good care in the very last bit of her life and it’s very, very sad."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
Tipping is off the table at this Toronto restaurant
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 mm among weather alerts in effect for 7 provinces
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 millimetres, air quality advisories and other alerts have been issued for seven Canadian provinces, according to the latest forecasts.
Canada Post's newest stamp features special cookies for Islamic holiday
Canada Post’s newest specialty stamps feature 'melt-in-your-mouth' desserts to mark two Islamic festivals, the crown corporation announced Thursday.
A dog and a bird formed an unlikely friendship. Their separation has infuriated followers
Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. But in an emotional video posted online, Peggy’s owners announced that the animals had been separated.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
Ukrainian child asylum seekers in St. John’s get class of their own
Roughly 50 children will gathered in a St. John’s classroom for the first time on Saturday for unique lessons on Ukrainian language, culture and history.