N.B. man’s experience sparked invitation to health minister to spend 24 hours in Moncton ER

A New Brunswick man’s own 24-hour ER experience sparked an invitation to the province's health minister to spend 24 hours in the Moncton ER.

Peter Phillips says it was a severe pain in his lower right abdomen that brought him to the Moncton Hospital’s emergency department waiting room in October.

It was 7:30 p.m.

He says he waited until 8:30 a.m. the next day for a CT scan. He had appendicitis.

“But appendicitis is a terrible pain. So if you’re sitting in the ER overnight with appendicitis, it’s not very fun,” he said in an interview with CTV News Atlantic.

Two weeks later, Phillips said he had more pain at the surgical site, so decided to return to the ER.

“I went at two in the afternoon, and I sat there until two in the afternoon the next day before I got out of there,” he said.

During that wait, he says he spoke to a lot of other people waiting – and saw a lot of people struggling.

“Even though you’re in pain yourself, you can’t help but see the misery around you. You know, people holding their head in pain, people with, like, blood coming through towels wrapped around their arms, people rocking back and forth in pain,” he said.

He says the unfortunate circumstance sparked an idea: invite New Brunswick Health Minister Dr. John Dornan and Premier Susan Holt to spend 24 hours in the ER waiting room, just as he had done, from 2 p.m. until 2 p.m. the following day.

Phillips says he wanted to convince the politicians about what, he feels, needs to be prioritized in the conversation around fixing healthcare in the province. Specifically, adding another ER doctor overnight at some of the busiest hospitals in N.B.

The invitation went out Nov. 5.

“He was fairly quick to accept, which I was surprised,” he said.

On Nov. 7, Dornan spoke to legislative reporters about the promise to spend 24 hours in the waiting room at the Moncton Hospital. He didn’t reveal a date – only that he wouldn’t leave, he’d have a book with him, and he’d only eat from the vending machine.

Phillips says he received an email from Dornan on Nov. 15 confirming he’d done it. That surprised Phillips even more.

He says he was hoping Dornan would let him know when he would be at the ER, and that there would be more of a debrief on what the minister may have taken away from the experience.

“I don’t know that it advanced sort of the issue any. I mean he kind of said the right words but I don’t think we changed his mind,” he said.

Dornan didn’t publicly reveal he had completed the challenge until Nov. 18, when reporters asked him about it at the legislature.

“It was quite difficult,” said Dornan. “It gave me insight, not complete, but insight into what people go through. People that are waiting for an extended period in the emergency department are often ill. I did not have that. I was not ill at the time. I had some level of preparation.”

The minister did say he walked away with more empathy for what people are going through when the end up in an ER.

“We need to do better,” he said.

Phillips has started a healthcare advocacy group, ‘N.B. Broken Healthcare,’ for New Brunswickers to share their experiences to ensure they don’t feel so alone. He also hopes he can bring some of those stories to politicians, so that they hear more of what New Brunswickers are going through.

He has suggestions too. Perhaps, the ability to tell patients waiting in an ER how many more severe cases are ahead of them.

“If the nurse tells you you’re triaged at level four and you look up the screen and there’s 10 level twos and 15 level threes, well, you could probably make an informed decision that you’re not going to be seen that night. Right? You could go home,” he said, “It’s just treating people with some respect.”

Emergency departments across the province have been overcrowded for years, with long wait times and staffing shortages.

While all hospitals are grappling with it, the Moncton Hospital had the highest average wait time last year, at more than seven hours, according to a study by the Montreal Economic Institute.

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