When two local moms created a storm on social media after their daughters were sent home from Lakeridge Health Oshawa’s emergency room while seriously ill, the Oshawa hospital announced it is reviewing its ER and how staff communicate with patients.

The move comes after Oshawa mom Kathryn McKissock and Ajax mom Christina Smith saw their daughters’ stories go viral.

“We’ve had a heads-up from our patients here that we can do better,” said Tom McHugh, executive vice-president at Lakeridge Health.

McHugh will become the hospital’s interim CEO and president on April 1.

In February, Ms. McKissock visited the Oshawa ER twice with her six-year-old daughter Jordan and said she was sent home with antibiotics on the first visit and simply told that “sometimes kids get sick” after Jordan completed the antibiotics and returned to the ER 10 days later with no change. Instead, Ms. McKissock took her daughter to SickKids in Toronto where Jordan was admitted and spent three weeks in the hospital, diagnosed with Kawasaki disease, an autoimmune disease that can be induced by an infection. She had infections in her joints, and encephalitis, requiring five spinal taps.

Ms. Smith also visited the Oshawa ER in February after her two year old, Katie, was gagging intermittently and had trouble swallowing. She too was sent home and told her daughter likely had a cold or flu. After she received similar advice from her family doctor, a walk-in clinic and the Markham Stouffville ER, an X-ray at the Ajax hospital showed the girl had a button battery lodged in her esophagus. The tot was taken by ambulance to SickKids where the battery was removed four days after she first swallowed it.

Both moms posted their stories on Facebook where thousands shared it. They now run a Facebook page called “What happened to you at Lakeridge Health Oshawa??” which has roughly 700 members. The page is filled with personal stories of nightmare experiences.

Officials at Lakeridge announced on Friday that three experts will be appointed to review the patient experience in the ER, how the hospital responds to patient issues over social media and how to improve followup on patient issues.

Mr. McHugh said there has been a negative feedback trend regarding the Oshawa ER and the hospital wants to address it within the department, program or even organization wide.

“I think we have seen a pattern around communication in the emergency room, we’ve seen a pattern of people who raise concerns with us . . . even if they got good care, the perception of their good care was coloured by the fact that communication wasn’t the best.”

Hospital CEO Kevin Empey called both McKissock and Smith to let them know about the review.

Ms. McKissock said she filed at least one complaint about the Oshawa ER in the past, which did not receive a response, but this time she was determined to raise awareness.

She said she told the doctor that the antibiotics prescribed during the first ER visit failed to improve her daughter’s situation. She described going through bottles of Tylenol and Advil simply to manage her daughter’s fever which ranged from 103 to 104 degrees.

“I told them it was getting worse, she was not responsive, she was sleeping non-stop, she was saying her legs hurt,” said Ms. McKissock.

She lobbied for an X-ray and blood and urine tests. After the first two were completed, she was told she should go home as the blood test was not unusual for sick child.

“They were very rude, they said she’s fine, there’s no reason to keep her there.”

That same day, it didn’t take long for Jordan to be admitted to SickKids.

“As soon as they saw her, they knew it was Kawasaki disease, because her eyes were completely bloodshot,” said McKissock of her visit to SickKids. “There were huge veins, her palms were swollen and purple, and her lips were swollen as well and very red and the inside of her mouth was red as well.”

Smith also feels like medical professionals ignored her and her husband when they described Katie’s symptoms. She was gagging, her voice was raspy and she was unable to eat. The tot was clearly in pain.

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“We were just kind of like what are we going to do? Everyone seems to think it’s a cold or a flu and I don’t think it is and I’ve seen her when she was sick before, it’s not like this.”

She was livid after an X-ray at the Ajax hospital revealed the battery.

“I was just so mad, I was furious, this has been in there four days and nobody did anything about it.”

After her daughter was discharged, Smith filed complaints with both the Oshawa and Markham Stouffville hospitals. She said she received a sincere apology from the latter hospital where she was told it was an “eye-opening” experience that would change the way they do things.

She found the Lakeridge Health response less satisfying and said through the Facebook group she now realizes many people don’t trust patient relations and in some cases people complained that patient relations did not call them back.

“Some of the stories they shared were just unbelievable, how could this happen ... it really boils my blood,” said Smith.

McHugh said addressing complaints on social media will be part of the review.

“The rules for us of respecting patient confidentiality is paramount but that doesn’t mean we can’t track these trends on social media or if we have enough information, we can’t reach out to people on social media.”

His message to the community is don’t lose faith in Lakeridge Health.

“I would say don’t hesitate to come, Durham Region (residents), they’re our neighbours, our family,” he said. “These people who work in Lakeridge Health want to do a good job, we want to learn, there are many caring and professional people who work here and we take our job seriously.”

McKissock said she’s skeptical, but hoping for the best.

“This isn’t going to happen overnight, it’s going to take a long time for something to change,” said Smith. “I don’t expect results anytime soon. I think it’s great they’re going to do this, but I’ll believe it when I see it.”

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