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By Allen Doxtator - Te ho wis kwûnt

Monday, December 10, 2018

I went to the emergency room at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, for help because I was having trouble breathing and my chest felt tight. I was asked how much alcohol and drugs I took, which I answered, “none.” I sat for about five hours with no assistance or being called into the treatment area. Since I’m diabetic, I had to leave the emergency room to get food. When I returned, they said they called my name, but because I wasn’t there, they put me at the bottom of the list and I was told I had to wait all over again.

They told me instead of leaving, I should have stayed and used their vending machine, which only holds chips and candy. Their attitudes were extremely disrespectful. By five o’clock – and after waiting more then five hours – I was too exhausted to stay, so I went home to bed. My granddaughter was home from school and living with us at that time and my partner was gone to work in one of the fly-in communities.

Tuesday

The next day, I went to the walk-in clinic instead of returning to the ER. While I was at the clinic, I was examined and they wrote a letter of admittance for me to take to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre emergency room to let them know my condition was serious. In the letter, they specifically wrote that I was suffering from chest pain and an irregular heartbeat. When I arrived at the emergency room staff checked me in, but again told me to wait in the waiting area.

Five hours later they I was taken back to the treatment area where I was asked what my complaint was, how much I drank, and did I take any drugs. On this visit, my granddaughter had gone with me and I asked the staff if my granddaughter, who was a minor at the time, could accompany me for safety reasons. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone in the waiting area so late at night. The staff told me no because they didn’t believe she was my granddaughter (my granddaughter’s skin is light and she has yellowish-hair), so she stayed behind in the waiting room.

In the examination area of the emergency room, I showed them the letter doctors in the clinic gave me, and they eventually took blood samples. Finally, at 1:30 in the morning, my granddaughter was able to convince security to let her back to see me. The security guard also accused her of not being my granddaughter). When she got to the back, she couldn’t find me at first and no one she spoke to could remember where they put me. So the treatment staff told her to go look for me.

When my granddaughter found me, I was sitting in a chair in a hall off one of the wings. I still had not received results from my blood test. My granddaughter approached the desk to ask about the lab work, which appeared about fifteen minutes later. I believe they forgot about me. The doctor did not report back, but a nurse told me the blood tests were clear and I should go home and “sleep it off and come back tomorrow sometime.”

Wednesday

I returned to the hospital’s emergency room, and they took my information all over again. However, they took me back to the treatment area sooner. It just so happened the woman next to me was having heart trouble and the cardiologist was visiting her. He said hello and asked me what was going on, and I told him. He checked me out and had me sent for X-rays and some other tests. When the results came back he and said I needed to be admitted immediately for surgery and that I should have been admitted into the hospital immediately on the first day I went in.

That same day, I was taken to the operating room where the doctor tried to operate but couldn’t. Instead of just needing stents (those are inserted into the arteries to open them up and allow for proper blood flow), I needed open heart surgery. I was then taken to the cardiac floor where my bed was placed next to the nursing station for them to watch me. At that time, my condition was critical. The doctor made all the emergency calls to other hospitals to set up the surgery I needed.

Thursday

I was moved into a room with another patient who turned out to be highly infectious with C-diff (or Clostridioides difficile) and I was moved to another room. Anyone entering the room had to wear gloves, masks, and a gown for limited contact until I was tested for those diseases that one gets in the hospital. The care I received upstairs was vastly different from the emergency room. The nurses on duty were more kind, and staff more aware and attending. The cardiologist was extremely concerned and attentive. He called a friend of his at University Hospital - London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario to facilitate the surgery I needed.

Friday

Surgery was arranged and I was flown in an air ambulance from Thunder Bay to London. Once I arrived, I was transferred via ambulance to the hospital. Surgery took place a day later after I was re-diagnosed as needing a quadruple bypass.

In this hospital I was treated way better. I was treated like a human being which made me way more comfortable. I was in surgery for a long time, longer than they said would it take, but I’m still here. I was released from the hospital two days after the surgery, but because the doctor said I was not able to fly so soon after the surgery, me and my partner stayed at my sister’s place in London for a week.

After that experience, I really don’t want to have to go the hospital in Thunder Bay, but since I live there, it’s the only place for me to go when I’m there. I worked in the fly-in communities for years and would hear stories from the Indigenous people about how they are being treated in that hospital. Now I have my story to add to those from other Indigenous peoples. It is still that way to this day, people have to realize Thunder Bay is – in my opinion – the most racist city in Canada, and today, even more cities and towns are showing how racist the people are in these places. I’m not saying all the people are racists, but more and more are starting to show their true selves.

Even here in Kingston where I work, there is racism. When walking down the street, I have seen people – young and old – holler out of the windows of their cars at us indigenous people. And not just at us. Other nationalities are told to go back where they came from. We have laws against this stuff, but nothing is being done to stop it. Even those holding government positions that are this way. This is also true in institutions of education where these type of people are allowed to work without consequences for their actions.

After talking with people about my story, a very important question has come to me: In all hospitals is it only the emergency departments that have such arrogant people working in it? I think each individual in those positions should go through a course on humanity four times a year. The rules hospitals have for the clientele should also apply to those workers. I thought they took this path to help people, not to discredit their dignity. These people working in these places should remember they are going to have to face this with their families some day.

If you’re stressed from your work, you should be the first to recognize it and ask for help for self. People, the first thing we should all remember there is no one smarter than the other. We only know what we set out to learn, and when we receive that document, it doesn’t mean we are a professional. I say this because when you are working in any field, you continue to learn every day. And this will continue until the day we die. So, I think I’ve said enough, and you can read between the lines.

Thank you for listening or reading this. I think I just needed to vent about what me and so many others deal with every day. Again, there should be a course on humanity that all people are required to take. Well, this is my story and I’m sticking to it.

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