As her father lay on a gurney in a Niagara Region emergency room, Anne Marie Zammit reassured him that he would recover.
Medical staff at the hospital in Welland, Ontario, told her that despite having an infection and having been in the emergency department for days, John had no fever, his vital signs were stable and more tests would be done the following morning, Zammit told CBC Hamilton in an interview.
She had reason to be hopeful: Before she got sick, 88-year-old C John was living independently and was her happy, healthy and quirky self, she said.
But that night at the hospital, C John insisted he would not survive the night.
“He told me his final wish and I said, 'Dad, you will survive and this won't be necessary,'” Zammit said.
The next morning, June 1, Zammit received a call from the hospital: his father had died.
“I couldn't believe it because the doctors had told me time and time again that his vital signs were stable,” she said. “Then I got a call from them saying this was very surprising news.”
Zammit said he did not know the cause of his father's death but said a lack of hospital resources was a major factor – for example, his father had been admitted to the emergency department for several days because there were no beds available in other departments.
“This broken system killed my father,” she said.
Public hearings held across Ontario
Zammit spoke about his experience at a public hearing held in Welland by the Ontario Health Coalition last weekend.
The coalition, which advocates for an improved public health-care system, is documenting experiences like Zammit's at public hearings in rural Ontario this month. The network of more than 400 grassroots groups hopes to draft recommendations, with input from opposition critics, on how to improve hospitals, particularly in rural areas.
The group hopes to present those recommendations to the state in a report later in the fall.
Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC), is pictured at a rally in 2019. Mehra said the OHC is lobbying the Ford government to increase funding for rural hospitals in a report due to be released in the fall. (CBC)
Executive Director Natalie Mehra said the move follows a report last year that documented about 1,200 emergency room closures in the state.
“The goal is to put pressure on the Ford government to stop them from continuing to close, dismantle and destroy public health services through privatization,” Mehra said.
The province says it is considering all options to provide resources to hospitals across Ontario.
Hannah Jensen, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Sylvia Jones, said in an emailed statement this week that Ontario is “taking bold action to ensure more people can get the care they need, when they need it.”
The state is on track to spend $85 billion on health care this year, she noted.
Zammit said he did not believe that funding was being reflected on the ground.
Welland Hospital appears to be stretched thin, with many different doctors showing up to see patients and coming up with a “hodgepodge” of diagnoses, she said.
John, who has diabetes, could barely eat anything when he was admitted, but it took the hospital two days to put him on a liquid diet, and only after she urged him, Ms Zammit said.
Mr Zammit said the emergency department corridors were filled with patients on stretchers while Mr C John was wheeled into a small room in a wheelchair.
“I felt like I was in a field hospital during a war,” she said. “I had no way to call a nurse, all I could do was scream.”
Niagara Health faces staff shortages
Spokesperson Erica Badger said in an email that due to privacy laws, Niagara Health cannot confirm or comment on individual cases.
Niagara Health is facing an increase in the number of patients in its emergency department and a shortage of health care workforce, particularly medical professionals trained in emergency medicine, she said.
“We have taken a number of steps to mitigate this issue and continue to actively recruit staff and physicians,” she said.
Dr. Alan Drummond, an emergency physician in Perth, Ont., said doctors and staff at hospitals are increasingly concerned they won't be able to do their jobs because of a lack of staff and resources. (Courtesy of Alan Drummond)
Frontline workers in Ontario's regional hospitals are also growing increasingly concerned.
Dr. Alan Drummond, an emergency physician in Perth, south of Ottawa, says the public is losing trust in healthcare and the lack of support is making his colleagues feel the same.
“Emergency medical workers are feeling extremely anxious that they can't do their jobs,” he said in an interview.
The Ontario Health Coalition plans to release a new report this fall.
