Kristina Winter tried to take her son to the pediatric emergency at Surrey Memorial Hospital on Tuesday evening (Nov. 22).
When they arrived, they saw the line to check in was out the door. Winter asked someone in the line,
B次元官网网址淚s this the lineup to go in?B次元官网网址� she asked someone in line. B次元官网网址淎nd sheB次元官网网址檚 like, B次元官网网址榊eah, we havenB次元官网网址檛 checked in yet.B次元官网网址� So then we left.B次元官网网址�
Winter, who lives in North Delta, initially drove to Surrey for care because some of her friends recommended the pediatric emergency room.
After seeing the line and leaving, she took her son to Delta Hospital in Ladner instead. He was checked in right away and, in just under four hours, was seen by a doctor.
Winter had no complaints about the care her son received there.
While CTV has reported that SurreyB次元官网网址檚 pediatric ER is seeing four times the number of patients it can handle, stories of jam-packed emergency rooms are not unique to Surrey.
In a statement to Black Press Media, Dr. Craig Murray, regional medical director of emergency medicine for Fraser Health, said hospitals in the region are experiencing a B次元官网网址渉igher-than-normal volumes of patients, including children, in our Emergency Departments.B次元官网网址�
B.C. ChildrenB次元官网网址檚 Hospital in Vancouver is also experiencing an influx of patients. They are triaging less serious patients from its emergency department to a nearby area due to a surge of people with respiratory illnesses.
SurreyB次元官网网址檚 pediatric emergency room was built to accommodate 20 000 patients annually. In the year before the pandemic hit 2019, the ER saw over 44,000 children.
COLUMN:
Jane Adams, CEO of Surrey Hospital Foundation, said the pediatric ER is only 5,500 square feet.
B次元官网网址淎 lot of people have homes larger than that,B次元官网网址� she said.
Adams said that health care has B次元官网网址渘ot been keeping pace in terms of the specialized services we need for children.B次元官网网址�
The 2021 census from Stats Canada showed that Surrey is the fastest-growing city in Western Canada and 23 per cent of its population are children and youth. Surrey also has the highest birth rate in the province.
Adams added that some health care available for children and youth in Surrey B次元官网网址渉ave contracted over the last two decades.B次元官网网址�
In 2001, the hospital had 24 funded pediatric beds. In 2021, it only had 16. The number of available inpatient pediatric beds is also disproportionate to the number of children and youth that live in the region, Adams says.
A release from Surrey Hospitals Foundation states that B.C. has a total of 442 pediatric inpatient and mental health beds. Surrey only has 36 of those beds, B次元官网网址渨hich only represents eight per cent when 41 per cent of B.C.B次元官网网址檚 children and youth live in the Fraser Health region.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淲e are also working to expand our inpatient pediatric bed capacity at our regional sites for children who do need to be admitted to hospital,B次元官网网址� Dr. Murray said.
If it is not a medical emergency, Dr. Murray recommends calling your family doctor or if they are unavailable going to an urgent care centre.
Surrey has two urgent and primary care centres. One is located in Netwon (6830 King George Blvd) and the other is in Whalley (Unit G2 9639 137A Street).
B次元官网网址� With files from The Canadian Press
anna.burns@surreynowleader.com
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