It was at the start of the pandemic, before the virus upset the entire healthcare system. In March 2020, Johanne Galipeau, 70, for lack of a family doctor, found himself in the emergency room, suffering from unbearable abdominal pain.
For seven hours, she waits, doubled over in her chair, hoping for a sign from the triage nurse. “I was alone, I asked several nurses what was going on. I was told to stop bothering the staff. Finally, someone signaled to me that the doctor was going to see me. When I got there, I could hardly walk anymore because I had a stomach ache and a headache, ”says the septuagenarian.
He will be prescribed “a little liquid” to calm his pain. A solution in the bottom, she went upstairs immediately and will be hospitalized 48 hours to undergo a battery of diagnostic examinations.
The doctor on duty on the floor, who does not know anything about his file, prescribes a drug incompatible with glaucoma, an eye disease that runs in his family. “I couldn’t believe the question hadn’t even been asked of me. I had to inform the doctor myself, and my prescription was changed, ”she says.
When she leaves the hospital, Johanne will no longer have any follow-up. We give him his leave. No diagnosis, no results. Nothing. Fortunately, the pains subsided. “I never knew what I got. I had to go to my Quebec health record myself to see my test results. “
“Three years is a long time”
The bumpy passage in the hospital network of Mr.me Galipeau might have been avoided if she had been able to obtain, weeks or months earlier, a family doctor. But his retired three years ago, as 25% of Quebec doctors over the age of 60 are preparing to do in the medium term.
Orphan, she registered with the Guichet d’Accès à un Docteur de Famille (GAMF), and waited for three years. “Three years is a long time when minor injuries accumulate. I had to go to chiropractors, massage therapists to manage the pain. My pharmacist has also helped me a lot, ”she says.
For lack of a doctor, Johanne Galipeau tried somehow to resolve some of her problems by going to see other professionals. “Without insurance,” she said, “I paid for everything out of my pocket. »Finally, Mme Galipeau received a call from GAMF at the end of the summer notifying him that a general practitioner had just been assigned to him. But she won’t be able to get her first date… for three months.
“I know some doctors have nurses in their clinic. I would agree to see a nurse. It would be so much better to have faster access to other therapists whose care would be covered by health insurance. Why would I have to wait months to see a doctor or psychiatrist if a psychologist or other professional could help me? “