Nursing grad surprised by 'awful' days-long wait for surgery at Manitoba hospital
Carla Chrisp says she knew health-care system was under strain, but acute care system barriers 'horrible'
A rural Manitoba nurse who just finished nursing school says now — as a patient laid up in hospital with broken bones in her lower leg — she understands first-hand the strain facing Manitoba's health-care system.
Carla Chrisp, 30, fractured her tibia and fibula at her nursing graduation dinner at Lakeview Resort in Hecla, Man., on Thursday. She has since been in a hospital bed in Gimli waiting for orthopedic surgery at the Grace Hospital in Winnipeg.
For four mornings in a row, Chrisp says she has been prepped for surgery, only to learn her surgery has been pushed to the next day.
"I always knew, working in different facilities, how bad our health-care system has gotten, but I didn't realize ... how awful this is," she said.
The night of the fracture, Chrisp crouched down to reach something during grad celebrations and heard a crack before falling to the ground.
She was later picked up by an ambulance and taken to Gimli Community Health Centre. X-rays confirmed she broke bones in her lower leg, she said — her tibia and fibula — and she would require surgery at the Grace Hospital.
Chrisp said her doctor in Gimli said "sometimes it takes two days, sometimes it takes two hours," in terms of how long she might be waiting before getting the call into Winnipeg for surgery.
"I've been waiting now four days, I still have obviously my two broken bones in my leg, laying here in pain," she said.
Her pain is being managed with morphine, she said.
She said she doesn't blame anyone in particular.
"I feel like there's a breakdown in communication, even among health-care staff, because they're so burned out," said Chrisp. "There was nurses working doubles all weekend. They're working 16-hour days."
Chrisp said she is most concerned for patients who don't have loved ones or advocates by their side.
The pandemic exacerbated existing wait times, some of which were well outside of national benchmark averages, for everything from surgeries and procedures to diagnostic tests.
As a recent grad, Chrisp said she was aware of the issues facing the health-care system.
"But I never realized the state of our acute care in Manitoba, like, this is horrible," she said. "I feel so bad for anybody that has to sit in pain for days on end."
Shared Health, which co-ordinates health-care service delivery in the province, says currently the wait for orthopedic surgery ranges from one to two weeks.
"We can appreciate how upsetting surgical postponements can be for individuals, particularly those suffering pain due to injury," a Shared Health spokesperson said in a statement.
Share Health confirmed there has been "a large volume" of orthopedic trauma surgeries in the province over the past four days, and that urgent and emergency surgeries are being prioritized.
All four hospitals in Winnipeg set up to perform the kind of surgery Chrisp needs were "busy triaging trauma cases" over the weekend.
"The Grace Hospital in particular was very busy, completing nine orthopedic trauma cases," reads a Shared Health statement on Monday.
"Another 15 cases were reviewed at the Grace on Monday morning, with the most medically urgent cases scheduled for today while others were set for Tuesday or later in the week."
After being turned away again on Monday, Chrisp said she asked for a rough estimate on when she might get into surgery.
"They just don't know," she said. "It's just unbelievably frustrating."
