A 23-year-old young woman suffering from a severe eating disorder deplores having to spend six days in the Sherbrooke psychiatric emergency alongside psychotic, crisis or violent patients, before finally having a bed upstairs.
“There are people who arrive in an aggressive, violent state. They start screaming. The attendants and nurses are doing their best, but it’s stressful. It increases your anxiety level. You don’t necessarily feel safe,” summarizes Sabrina Gagné, reached by telephone in her room at the Hôtel-Dieu in Sherbrooke.
Having struggled with a severe anorexia disorder since she was 15, the young woman is unfortunately used to stays in psychiatry.
Measuring 5’5″ and weighing 80 pounds, Sabrina Gagné had reached a dangerous threshold for her health. She therefore presented herself at the psychiatric emergency on Monday, January 15, in the morning, she says.
Fast support?
This time, the psychiatrist who follows her had promised her that she was expected at the hospital, her mother swears.
“We said to ourselves: ‘At least she will be taken care of!’ underlines Mélanie Rodrigue, who is worried about her daughter. This is what shocked me the most […] People need to be aware of what is happening in psychiatry.”
courtesy Sabrina Gagné
However, she was hospitalized on a floor on Saturday January 20, at 9 p.m. For six days, she waited in the emergency room alongside several unstable patients.
“I was really at the end of my rope, there were others who had been waiting just as long. It was discouraging. There were some who were upset, who wanted to leave, she says. The world does not want to stay.”
There are many stories of patients who leave a psychiatric emergency without having received care. The death of Amélie Champagne was also the subject of a public coroner’s inquest.
Deprived of her cell phone, she had nothing to do. A common room has a few tables and chairs, but patients must sleep on stretchers “crammed back,” she said, or on small makeshift beds.
Sleep while waiting
“There are people who sleep most of the day. There’s nothing to do, you wait… You don’t even know what you’re waiting for,” she says.
Of these six days, Sabrina Gagné even says she was transferred to the physical emergency room for two days on a stretcher because there were too many patients, before returning to the psychiatric emergency room.
Despite everything, she does not blame the employees.
“The staff is doing their best, but it’s ridiculous, it’s not a climate we want to be in. It makes me want to go racing again at home.”
During this week, Sabrina Gagné did not really start treatment and was seen by the various doctors who took turns in the emergency room.
“Every day I asked: ‘Is there a place soon?’ They are overwhelmed, they don’t know it…” she whispers.
Installed in a room for a week, the young patient begins to find her bearings and feels better. She has no idea how long she will be hospitalized, but expects to stay there for several weeks.
courtesy Sabrina Gagné
Finally have a dream
As for the future, Sabrina Gagné hopes to successfully resolve her eating disorder and think about a possible career.
“I just wish I could get better so I could have a dream. At the moment, it’s so vague, hope is difficult to find,” says the woman who works in the hotel industry.
According to the standards of the Ministry of Health and Social Services, the average wait on a stretcher in emergency rooms should not exceed 24 hours. However, several hospitals do not reach the target, and it often takes longer in psychiatry.
For its part, the Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS) of Estrie responded that the emergency room is overwhelmed and that the prioritization of beds is re-evaluated based on the condition of the patients. Since 2020, the length of stays has increased since patients have more complex clinical profiles.