To the editor,
I was admitted to NRGH to have a kidney removed. I’m 65, I wanted a private or semi-private room if possible, but as they were bursting at the seams with patients in the lounges and hallways of the third floor, it wasn’t possible.
I was placed in a room for four. Kitty corner to me was a 78-year-old Indiana Jones character suffering from pain and rash and was moaning through the night. He appeared to be held together with chewing gum, but I could have sworn he was faking symptom improvement in order to get discharged in time for the weekend, which he did. The guy across from me was replaced by an patient in his eighties in pain and suffering, but the third-floor staff somehow made him happy and content by the next morning, including the nurse who gave him a blood transfusion the next day at the expense of her getting time to eat breakfast.
Over the three days I was there I witnessed a level of care and caring, open equally to everyone in the room and third floor that was shocking. It was shockingly excellent from the staff bringing your food to the nurses, doctors, technicians, and cleaners. Double checking, positive, happy, encouraging, helpful, caring people doing a thankless job. Amazing, really.
Not to forget my ‘err on the side of caution’ Dr. Ehman who persevered to find an issue, and the surgeon Dr. Morrison who removed it.
My care card is aptly named.
Chris Baldwinson, Nanaimo
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