'I've never felt so helpless in my entire life,' Moncton mother says after son's long wait for emergency care
A New Brunswick mother is concerned about how long it took for her one-year-old son in respiratory distress to be triaged at the Moncton hospital.
"I was helpless," Danielle Doyle said of her experience at the Moncton hospital on Tuesday night. "I've never felt so helpless in my entire life. I was angry."
She says they waited 50 minutes to be triaged and her Liam was later diagnosed with double pneumonia.
"I'm not angry at the health-care workers," Doyle said. "They're doing as much as they can at the moment. I'm angry with our government and what's put in place for systems currently."
Liam is now doing well with treatment, but Doyle says it could have been worse and something needs to be done.
Horizon Health issued a statement Thursday morning saying that hospitals are at more than 85 per cent capacity.
In their latest numbers, one hospital was listed at 110 per cent.
"Before the pandemic, we were seeing hospitals well over 100 per cent capacity," said Anthony Knight, the CEO of the New Brunswick Medical Society. "That means there are more patients than there are health-care staff and hospital beds."
The leader of the opposition is concerned that the province was not prepared for the fourth wave of COVID-19.
"The occupancy of hospitals is almost at the max or in some cases over the maximum," said Roger Melanson. "We already have a shortage of resources and burn out in nursing, and that has not been addressed by the government of New Brunswick."
The medical society says the best thing New Brunswickers can do right now to help with hospital capacity is to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
"Physicians are very concerned about the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital capacity," said Knight. "There are serious strains that we're seeing take place throughout the system."
Horizon Health turned down requests for an interview Thursday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.