In the spring of 2010, our then-eight-year-old son had a very serious bout of asthma that had him hospitalized for two days. A few days after being released, we took him to the respiratory clinic at Surrey Memorial Hospital for an asthma evaluation.
Getting into the respiratory clinic we had to walk through at least six people standing near the entrance smoking. Most of them were dressed in scrubs which indicates they are hospital employees.
There were numerous signs all around advising it was a non-smoking area, but they were being totally ignored.
Cigarette smoke is one of the biggest asthma triggers for our son and he did experience a mild asthma attack. We complained to the receptionist in the clinic and were informed that they get a lot of similar complaints but they couldn’t do anything because the security personnel had no authority over employees on this.
Upon leaving the clinic, there were even more smokers outside the door. We took one step outside and had to turn around and go back in to find another way out of the clinic.
We were directed by the clinic personnel to go down a back corridor and out a side door to avoid the unhealthy environment created by these so-called “health workers.”
Glen and Jennifer McGarrigle
