'It just broke my heart': 75-year-old man with dementia waits 8 hours in ambulance

It definitely wasn’t how she was expecting to spend her Sunday, but shortly after 9 a.m., Linda Vautour received a phone call that would lead to nearly eight hours of non-stop worrying.

That’s how long her 75-year-old husband, Eusebe Vautour, who has dementia, waited in an ambulance to be unloaded and seen by a doctor at Stella Maris De Kent Hospital.

“I looked at that ambulance at the back of the hospital, knowing that he was in there all by himself, not being able to speak… no one he knew, and it just broke my heart,” said Linda Vautour.

Eusebe was taken by ambulance from his care home for stomach pain and vomiting, but the family says since he couldn’t be offloaded, they weren’t allowed to join him in the ambulance for comfort.

“I’m worried because he’s a dementia patient. He’s there all by himself, with nobody he knows, disoriented and unable to speak for himself really,” she said.

Adding, “if I could have even gone over and just said, you know, how is he doing or at least speak to him or something.”

The family says there was no communication from the hospital or the paramedics during the wait, however, they say that this situation has nothing to do with the doctors and nurses and that they understand they’re doing their best.

Linda said even the care home was confused why it took him so long to be seen. Adding, “I was worried because aneurysms run in his family. So I was worried about that and I was worried about appendicitis and just everything going through my head.”

She says that Eusebe was given a physical exam, but no further testing once finally seen by a doctor.

“The doctors and nurses are all doing their best, they’re doing what they can and they all understand what we’re going through, but they need help. They can’t do everything on their own,” she said.

The entire family says they want to see change happen at a government level.

“I wouldn’t say it’s our health-care system,” said Kermit Vautour, Eusebe’s son. “It’s our political that’s causing the problem.”

Adding, “one of the biggest issues is all the after-hours clinics are closing because they get paid more to do the emergency calls. So what my understanding is, why can’t doctors get paid what they should get paid no matter where they are as they’re helping people? And then this way here our emergency rooms wouldn’t be completely flooded.”

In a statement to CTV News, Vitalité, the health authority responsible for the hospital, said, in part, that while it cannot speak to individual cases, “we are actively working to improve the flow of admissions and discharges, as well as to reduce overflow and wait times in the emergency department, and to make it easier to manage admissions to a nursing unit.”

Vitalité also stated that “over the weekend, the emergency department of the Stella-Maris-de-Kent Hospital was very busy. Bed occupancy at the facility was also very high.”

“After my mom called me and she was upset that my father was still in an ambulance after three hours of arriving at the hospital, I was upset enough that I went to try and get some answers,” said Kermit.

He adds that he apologizes to the doctors, nurses and paramedics as his emotions and worry caused a bit of a disturbance as he searched for answers to make sure his dad was okay.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health also said in a statement to CTV News that it cannot comment on specific cases but that officials are working on initiatives to help reduce offload delays.

Adam Bowie, a department communications officer, said, “emergency department congestion and associated ambulance offload delays aren’t issues unique to this province, and there is no singular answer to these complex problems.”

As for the Vautour family, Eusebe is now back at his home, thanks to the owner of his care home picking him up, and happy to be around familiar faces.

“[The nurses] said he seemed to be pretty tired when he got back,” said Linda. “He probably was not understanding what was going on, but that he was very happy this morning when he saw their faces because it’s his home now, he’s been there for three years and he recognizes them.”

However, the entire situation has raised major concerns.

"Right now he's not complaining of too much pain, but is it out of fear that he has to go back? Or is he actually better?” said Kermit.

It’s also raised concerns about what the future of health care looks like.

“What’s going to happen next time he has to go?” said Linda. “Even for myself, at my age, I’m not that young anymore. I worry if I get sick and have to go to the hospital what’s going to happen?”