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SYDNEY, N.S. — A Grand Mira North woman says after 11 hours at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital emergency department with a severed tendon and not receiving care, she gave up.

“It’s was still an open wound as it wasn’t addressed at all — they didn’t even look at it,” said Sandi Ferguson, 48, of Grand Mira North.

However, after going to the New Waterford Consolidated Hospital emergency department two days later, surgery was immediately booked and held three days later.

“The difference between Sydney and New Waterford was like walking into a different world. I’ve never been to the one in Glace Bay, but I’d have to say New Waterford is the leader in patient care.”

Ferguson, currently a stay-at-home-mom, said it all began at about 5 p.m. on Jan. 5 while she was cooking supper for her family.

“I was cutting up an onion to put in the ground beef and I went to turn, and the tip of the knife hit the cutting board and I lost the balance of the knife in my hand,” she said.

“It came down and cut me on the top of my foot.”

She ended up with a huge gash on the top of her foot.

“Looking closely I could see white, which at first I thought was bone. I didn’t know at the time the tendon was severed.”

She knew she had to go to the emergency department.

“The only reason I went immediately was my big toe just fell over to the back. I couldn’t move it, so I knew something was wrong.”

At about 6 p.m. she arrived at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital with her sister-in-law and saw the triage nurse.

“I said if it only needed stitches I could go and dress it myself. I didn’t want to be a burden because I’ve heard all the stories about what’s going on at the ER. The nurse said it had to be looked at as it looked like a severed tendon.”

The nurse advised Ferguson it was going to be at least a six-hour wait. As a result, she asked if it would be OK for her to go home and come back. The nurse told her it was, just to let them know when she left. The nurse put a bracelet on her arm and told her to keep it on while gone.

Ferguson left at about 7:30 p.m.

“She said they’d keep my chart out so it wouldn’t be put back at the end again.”

She arrived back at the hospital at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday and found only about three people waiting.

After about an hour, she was called into an examining room. Another hour had gone by when suddenly she said four nurses were standing outside the examining rooms, one talking extensively on how much she hated her job.

Sandi said she understands how stressful the ER must be and knows everyone has bad days but it was quite unprofessional.

“I looked up at her and said, ‘Well that’s not nice to hear,’” she said.

Sandi Ferguson’s foot showing a severed tendon she suffered after dropping a knife on her foot on Jan. 5. Ferguson, of Grand Mira North, said even though she spent hours at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital emergency room, no one even cleaned her wound or offered her a bandage.

“The nurse didn’t say anything, just came over and closed my door.

“After that a nurse never approached my room again.”

Finally at about 4:15 a.m. Ferguson said her sister-in-law went out and asked a nurse how much longer it might be and the nurse responded, ‘Well there’s sick people here, she’s not a priority,’”

She said that’s when she decided to leave.

“I don’t know why they’d put me in a room and then ignore me for three hours,” she said.

“They didn’t do anything with my foot, they didn’t clean it, bandage it, they didn’t do anything.

I couldn’t put a shoe or anything on to cover it because it was an open gash.”

Ferguson said she stopped to tell the nurse she was leaving and said the nurse responded, ‘OK.’

“I went out where the triage cart was and got some bandages and I dressed the cut myself.”

Sunday night she called 811, worried about extensive pain in the calf of her leg.

“She advised me to go back to the hospital but I wasn’t going to go back to Sydney.”

The emergency department was closed in Glace Bay and New Waterford on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7. On Tuesday, she went to the emergency department at New Waterford Consolidated Hospital.

Ferguson said that’s when everything changed. Although the emergency department was packed, she was called in within 10 minutes.

“They had already had me in a triage room and a nurse came in to look at everything, addressed the cut and made sure everything was clean.”

She said within another 10 minutes the doctor had checked her foot and was on the phone to an orthopedic surgeon.

The doctor told her she shouldn’t put any weight on her foot at all and put a cast on so it wouldn’t move.

“When I told the doctor what happened, the doctor said, ‘The only thing that would have been priority over you was cardiac.’”

Sandi saw an orthopedic specialist Wednesday and Thursday had surgery at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital.

She will find out the results at her followup doctor’s appointment in a week.

“He did say before surgery it’s been almost a week and he wasn’t sure if he could repair the tendon,” she said.

“If he could not find the other part of tendon he said he’d attach the part he could find to my second toe.”

Whether the delay caused any complications to her injury, or whether there will be long-term effects from her injury is not known yet.

Sandi said every hospital is experiencing the same cutbacks and all the staff are overworked.

“I just don’t understand why Sydney can be so terrible with every aspect of care as proposed to New Waterford.”

Greg Boone

Greg Boone, spokesman with the Nova Scotia Health Authority, said they regret and are sorry for the patient’s experience and the long wait that any patients experience at Cape Breton Regional Hospital emergency department.

“Our staff are doing the best they can amidst what would have been a high-volume period involving visits to the emergency department by patients.”

Boone said most patients understand and know that patients are triaged, and their assessment sometimes determines how quickly they are seen.

“There are times patients wait longer than they expect and longer than we feel they should wait,” he said.

“But there are times the volumes are such, and our staff are doing the best they can looking after the sickest people first.”

Boone said in regard to this particular experience they have a legal responsibility and obligation to protect and respect patient privacy, so they can’t talk about specific details about this person’s experience or care.

He said they understand people visiting the emergency department waiting long periods of time are frustrated and anxious and the wait might not be comfortable for them. He said they would want anyone who is deciding to leave to let their staff know but they’d also encourage people to stay until they are seen by a physician.

Boone said if people have any concerns about their experience or the quality of care they receive in any of their programs and services — including the emergency department — they can bring it to the attention of the manager in question or can contact one of their patient representatives.

Related:

• Delorey responds to Cape Breton Regional Hospital ER concerns

• Cape Breton doctor steps down as network lead

• Closures, holidays reasons cited for long waits in Cape Breton Regional Hospital emergency department



sharon.montgomery@cbpost.com