My 76-year-old father is currently a patient at the Ridge Meadows Hospital.
Two days before Christmas he fell and broke his left leg. He was taken to Surrey Memorial Hospital and then promptly transferred to Burnaby General Hospital because there was no bed available.
At Burnaby General a steel rod was put into his leg and we were told he would not be released for two to six weeks, or when he was able to use a walker without any problems.
Prior to the two-week minimum they insisted he was competent with a walker and had to be sent home.
A nurse told us directly she was told to get him out, they wanted the bed.
He was transferred home on the morning of Jan. 6 by a hospital transfer company. They had to bring him into our home and into his room by a stretcher because he was not able to walk.
I made sure he had a walker there for him to use and tried to be with him when he needed to use it. In the evening he went to use the walker without me there and fell and broke his right arm. He was home a total of nine hours.
Again he was sent to Surrey Memorial Hospital. Again no bed and he was sent to the Ridge Meadows Hospital. Now he spends his days in a depressing room waiting for someone to visit.
My father and I have been residents of Surrey all our lives, have businesses in Surrey and pay our taxes in Surrey. Yet he can’t get a bed in Surrey Memorial Hospital.
He has battled cancer for years now, with some success, but it appears he is losing that battle and may not last the year. I try to visit him daily, which means having to find an extra hour to travel to Ridge Meadows Hospital and have to pay the toll on the Golden Ears Bridge, which I would not normally have to do.
Is it too much to ask to have him closer to his friends and family?
He is confused and depressed. He should not be having to spend the end of his life like this.
Ernie Dau
