Shawna Forester Smith says a life-threatening experience at a Winnipeg hospital led her to start a petition to draw attention to the state of health care in Manitoba.Shawna Forester Smith started a petition calling for concerns facing Manitoba's health-care system to be addressed, including staffing issues, excessive ER wait times and access blocks — when patients are admitted with no beds available.
While she is currently a resident of the chronic care unit at the long-term care facility Deer Lodge Centre, her health condition requires her to frequent hospitals for emergency care, with the last time occurring over three days in the first weekend of March, she said. into shock, so they called an ambulance and I was taken to the Grace Hospital," Forester Smith said.Forester Smith says the Grace's emergency room was packed and the number of people waiting for a bed was "insane.
Forester Smith says there were a number of issues with the care she received at the Grace ER, but she doesn't blame the staff because "they couldn't do a better job there were too many patients, and there just wasn't enough time.
The health authority wants to remind people to continue to seek help during emergencies by calling 911, or going to an emergency department or urgent care centre, where the sickest and most injured patients continue to be prioritized.