Winnipeg woman delays emergency care due to long ER wait; urges others not to do the same

A Winnipeg woman regrets she didn't go sooner after 16 hours to see a doctor for a heart condition, initially hampered by long wait times in the ER.

Melissa Mathew believes her reluctance to go to St. Boniface Hospital was the wrong call because it downplayed the severity of her episode, resulting in a longer wait.

While he understands that ER wait times are a serious problem that needs to be fixed, he urges others not to make the same mistake.

“I don't want this to be a barrier for people who need to seek medical care,” he said. “Because if they hear that and say, 'Oh my God, he had a heart attack and waited 16 hours, I shouldn't have gone to the hospital,' I don't want that to happen.” I want people to know what the situation is.”

A 41-year-old man with a serious heart condition called supraventricular tachycardia began having a heart attack on Jan. 7 while playing dodgeball.

“I had an episode that day where my heart rate was 175. It was very high,” Matthew said, adding that stress, caffeine, exercise and sleep patterns can all be triggers for an episode.

“When your heart is beating so fast at 175 to 180 beats per minute, it stops beating. It's beating very fast. So, you feel lightheaded, dizzy. You're not getting enough oxygen, so you might have trouble breathing.”

A normal resting heart rate ranges from 60 to 100 beats per minute.

Matthew says when he checked the wait times at the hospital, they showed at least 13 hours.

“I thought, 'Oh, boy, I don't want to go and sit around with how I feel,'” she said.

So he got home, laid on the floor, and tried deep breathing and meditation to lower his heart rate.

“It was all I could do. I could not sit, I could not stand. “I couldn't go to bed in the bedroom because it was too far from the door I came in, so I laid down on the floor of my house because it felt good,” she said.

“I thought my heart rate was going to drop again. That's how it used to be, so I don't needlessly run to the hospital.”

Matthew did this for about three hours, but felt it was too long for his heart to still be beating. Since he lived alone, there was no one to help him in case of further distress.

“When things didn't get better, I decided to call 911. Paramedics came to my house and gave me some preliminary treatment. That's when my heart started to stop, but they said, “If you want, we'll take you to the hospital.” I thought I should go, it's a matter of the heart, you shouldn't mess with it.”

Complexity may have delayed care

But coming off an episode isn't the same as being right in the middle of it, and Matthew says it's giving him a long wait.

“I was hesitant, I think if I went sooner I would have been seen sooner because usually with heart disease they take you in sooner,” she said. “But because I wasn't in the episode when I came in, I think that's part of why I waited so long.

“I got to the 15 hour mark where I thought about leaving. There, “I've been waiting all day, what will I do if I leave now?” It was a sunk loss.

Teacher Matthew didn't want to miss another day of work.

“For a long time I sat in the waiting room with other patients, not feeling well. “It was very long and unpleasant,” he said.

Matthew said it “felt good” when his name was called.

“I literally flew out of my chair like I was on a game show,” he described. “And then I was sitting there and the doctor came in. We talked about my blood work and EKG and talked about that and he sent me to see a cardiologist. It was all good, but it was too fast.”

Manitoba doctors say they are concerned about what they call “unreasonably long wait times” in ERs. The group says waiting “should never prevent someone from seeking help for an urgent or life-threatening medical condition, as cases are always assessed, reviewed and prioritized based on medical necessity.”

The latest data from Shared Health shows wait times at Winnipeg ERs have increased over the past six months, due to staff shortages and a recent increase in respiratory viruses.

“Go to the mortician”: health minister

Manitoba's health minister blamed the “chaos in the health care system” on “cuts and mismanagement” by the previous provincial government.

“Every day our new government is taking steps to undo the damage they have left,” Uzoma Asagwara said in a statement. “Since our launch, we've announced initiatives to help reduce wait times and patient flow so people in the ER get the care they need faster. These initiatives include more hospital beds, new investment to see patients discharged seven days a week instead of five, and the addition of doctors to the minor trauma clinic at HSC.”

Asagwara expressed concern that ER wait times could delay someone seeking medical care and urged anyone who needs emergency care not to hesitate.

“Please go to the emergency room,” Asagwara said. “Patients with the greatest need are given the highest priority and we will never stop working to reduce waiting times.”

Matthew echoed the message, urging people not to follow in his footsteps and delay care.

“It's been very bad for me to even decide if I want to seek medical care,” she said. “Because if it's an emergency, people should feel like they can go to emergency and be seen and not have to wait most of the day.

“I'd like to see that all changed so people don't have to wait so long.”