My name is Caroline. I have been an emergency physician for 10 years. Like my colleagues across the province, I work in the emergency room under difficult, sometimes appalling conditions.
Posted yesterday at 1:00 p.m.
Faced with this critical situation, we must choose between finding a culprit and finding a solution. Impossible to do both at the same time. It’s tempting to look for blame. People, procedures, organizations… But time is running out. We have to find solutions. Right away. Because lives are at stake.
We are drowning in the emergency room. Right here right now. Under our eyes. The boat is sinking and we are trying to get the water out with a spoon.
We do what we can. We add stretchers, we place them in the corridors, the nurses do what they can to supervise too many patients, too badly installed. Believe me, they work wonders. Day after day. But miracles can’t last forever. The troops are demoralized. When they haven’t already left the ship. I don’t blame them, I understand them so much.
However, there is a solution. Rather, a hope. Oh, we’re not going to solve all the ER problems with this. It would still be precarious, but if that was all it would do, at least the boat wouldn’t be sinking. It is not easy. It is not up to us. Because it’s not a problem that can only be solved in the emergency room. Not even in our entire hospital. It goes way beyond that. And this can only be resolved if we work together. Now. You, the entire population of Quebec and us, the caregivers.
The simple and brutal reality is as follows: emergencies and hospitals are saturated with people who are not sick, but who are losing their autonomy.
We are there to heal wounds and cure illnesses, sometimes even to save lives; not to support the loss of autonomy. Don’t get me wrong, we care for all sick patients, regardless of their level of autonomy. But we cannot keep everyone who is not sick in the hospital, simply because their environment is unsuitable. We can no longer afford it. Our hospital capacities are exceeded.
The loss of physical and cognitive abilities is a real challenge, complicated, difficult. Better adapted living environments are needed for these people. You need a dignified, safe place; and out of the hospital.
So many dedicated people are trying to help these people. But these helpers are exhausted. To you caregivers, volunteers, community workers, we cannot say it enough: thank you for all that you do, day after day, without getting the recognition you deserve. Know this, if you fall, we will fall after you. We have a vital need that all of society, governments and establishments truly support you.
But I beg you. It is a cry for help that we send to you today. Send us only people with a loss of autonomy who need urgent medical care. And find other options, more humane, for people with loss of autonomy who do not need the hospital tray.
Do you want to help us?