Saving Grace: patient gives back to hospital that helped her

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This article was published 02/01/2024 (660 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After an eight-day stay at Grace Hospital during the busy Christmas season, Amanda Gastl wanted to give back.

The Winnipegger started an online fundraiser to benefit the Grace Hospital Foundation after busy nurses, nursing students and health-care aides cared for her as calls rang out on the hospital intercom asking staff to stay late and pick up shifts.

“I just really wanted to shout out that although they were busy, my individual needs were still met fairly promptly… You could tell, for sure, they were short-staffed,” said Gastl.

She said she wanted to collect donations as a “gesture of gratitude” while sharing her personal experience in hopes of encouraging the public, hospital staff, and future health-care workers.

She went to the Grace for emergency treatment on Dec. 19 because of a flare-up of a medical condition.

She waited roughly five hours before she was seen. After close to nine hours, she was given a single bed inside a room in the emergency department while she waited to be admitted to a medicine ward for IV fluids and pain management.

She spent four days and three nights in the ER before a bed became available in a medicine ward, where she spent the rest of her stay.

Gastl said at every shift change, announcements were made over loudspeaker asking staff to stay late. Gastl saw patients waiting in beds or chairs in ER hallways.

“So many of the health-care aides on my unit were doing 16-hour days, picking up additional shifts.”

On one night in the ER, Gastl noticed there appeared to be only one nurse on duty to care for a whole section of patients. During the day, staffing was often supplemented with student nurses, in their final year of study, who were supervised by a senior nurse.

As a patient, Gastl felt she “lucked out” that those student nurses had picked up shifts during their winter break from school and helped make her time there positive.

“If it wasn’t for those student nurses, I don’t believe my experience would’ve been what it was.”

Her Go Fund Me page had brought in more than $500 as of Tuesday.

Gastl said she could’ve gone directly to the Grace Hospital Foundation, but she wanted to put a personal touch on the donation effort after all of the negative attention paid to staff shortages and burnout.

Grace Hospital has received public attention for long ER wait times, severe staff shortages and cancelled surgeries owing to lack of bed capacity. On Nov. 18, a patient died in the Grace emergency department after waiting 33 hours. Past and present provincial governments have funded ER and ICU upgrades at the Grace, acknowledging the need for more capacity.

“I always try to look at the positive and how you can help. My hope is to encourage,” Gastl said, explaining she hopes her message will reach people are considering a career in health care.

A spokesperson for the foundation said such a fundraiser is uncommon, but they are grateful for it.

“We have just learned of this fundraising initiative and we want to thank Amanda for caring about the Grace. Grace Hospital Foundation will be reaching out to Amanda to learn more about her special commitment to patient care,” wrote Leah Johnston, a manager, in an email.

Gastl said although staff was so busy, they managed to stay generally upbeat. At Christmas, volunteers gave patients socks that had humorous holiday designs. (Gastl’s pair featured a tattooed Santa).

“This experience was truly eye-opening for me, and it will take time for the system to heal, having more people going back to the medical field and taking the time to educate themselves. We will get there one day, I have hope,” she wrote on her GoFundMe page.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca