‘Chaos in our ERs’ Woman shocked by impact of addictions during 22-hour stint at HSC By: Carol Sanders Posted: 7:04 PM CST Monday, Nov. 25, 2024

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This article was published 25/11/2024 (670 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An intoxicated man soaked in blood walks into a Winnipeg emergency room and reveals a stab wound on his neck, joking, “That girl on Main got me good.”

Another person who was removed by security officers sneaks back in and tries to drink from the hand sanitizer dispenser.

The sliding door at the entrance opens nearly non-stop with people looking for a warm place to have a nap. Five security guards have their hands full with unruly patients, including one who swears at the nurses.

At one point there are seven police cruisers at the hospital with patients in handcuffs. A woman who overdosed regains consciousness and screams “Where the f—- am I!” Another is hallucinating, yelling and banging her head against the wall.

Those were just some of the events witnessed by retired North End teacher Tracy Reimer, who spent 22 hours in the ER at Health Sciences Centre on the weekend as she waited with a family member seeking treatment. Reimer said she was gobsmacked by the chaos nursing staff and security faced with a revolving door of people who were high and needed — or demanded — a lot of attention.

“It’s like day care for people with addictions. I feel so bad they’re addicted,” said Reimer, who asked one of the nurses how she was able to cope. “She said ‘This is what we deal with every day.’

“It’s exhausting to watch.”

Staff responded to cardiac and stroke emergencies as she observed intoxicated persons coming and going and coming back again, she said.

“There are people who’ve come and gone three times — they come in, get warm, get food and they’re triaged and they disappear,” said Reimer. “They know everybody by first name.”

She saw nurses conduct attendance and blood pressure checks on those who remained. Those who left and returned had to be triaged all over again.

“It’s exhausting to watch.”–Tracy Reimer

Reimer said nurses, security and police never lost their cool or compassion no matter how erratic or aggressive the behaviour, but it was terrifying for some patients.

“Some came in and took a look around and left,” she said. A man who brought his elderly mother in for X-rays after she fell stayed but “his jaw was on the floor” at what they were seeing. Reimer said she saw many others leave after waiting several hours without being seen.

At one point, she figured out of 40 civilians waiting in the ER, maybe five were sober.

Another place for intoxicated people to get help is needed, Reimer said, arguing it’s not fair to HSC staff to have to deal with so many social issues.

“I’m glad this is coming from somebody other than me,” Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said Monday. She’s spoken up many times about Manitoba ERs struggling to deal with the rising demands associated with patients addicted to hard drugs.

“It’s a fortuitous time to have this article in the paper,” Jackson said. “It’s the reality of our times.

“The ER is open 24-7, it’s a safe place to go to get a meal, to get warm and, if necessary, to find a place to sleep if there is nowhere else to go.”

“It’s the reality of our times.”–Union president Darlene Jackson

She said social issues are spilling over into already-busy emergency departments.

“We need an increase in places to go where they can be fed and warmed — they need safe places to stay,” said Jackson.

“There’s more and more chaos in our ERs. Nursing staff, security and physicians do the best they can.”

Jackson said staff should be dealing with those who are ill and need to see a doctor. A lot of those people are leaving without being seen, she said.

Reimer said she hopes Manitoba’s first supervised consumption site might help divert some of those showing up at the HSC emergency.

That’s the plan, Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said Monday.

“A supervised consumption site will actually be a diversion from the ERs as well as our sobering centres,” Smith told reporters after question period.

“There’s more and more chaos in our ERs. Nursing staff, security and physicians do the best they can.”–Union president Darlene Jackson

“We’re working to support and meet people where they’re at, which is why we need a supervised consumption site.” Smith said she expects to have plans in place “in the coming months” but couldn’t say when one will open.

The province partnered with the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre to develop plans for the site, the location of which has been chosen but hasn’t been announced.

“We know that that’s been a long time coming,” Smith said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

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