'We need it now': As ER visits among children rise, Montreal parents want hotline reinstated
Montreal public health officials are considering whether to bring back a special hotline for families with sick children to get them speedy appointments with a doctor as the city's hospitals see an increase in visits to pediatric emergency rooms.
The "one call, one appointment" hotline was launched on Sept. 28, 2021 and was a valuable lifeline for parents of kids under 17 years old with non-urgent illnesses during the fourth wave of the pandemic when hospitals were under increased strain, they say.
A short phone call would get a parent a doctor's appointment in a few hours, in most cases.
But as ERs are seeing more children show up with non-urgent conditions, usually as a last-resort option for parents who couldn't find a doctor, there are calls to bring back the phone service, which ended on March 31.
Associate director To Nhu Nguyen at the DRMG, who works on access to front-line services, confirmed there's a recent rise in pediatric ER visits.
Nguyen told CTV News Tuesday that "nothing is off the table" when asked if the program will be reinstated.
"If we can replicate learnings from the measures that we tested during the pandemic, such as the 'one call, one appointment,' we obviously will resume it if the need arises," she said in an interview.
The service was always meant to be a temporary fix to ease pressure at over-capacity ERs,she said.
'I WANTED TO SCREAM'
Some Montreal parents want public health to bring the service back with more urgency, describing lengthy waits in recent weeks in the city's children's hospitals.
"It worked. Why not bring it back? And we need it now, because there is a major service gap," said Vivien Carli.
Carli said she waited for a "gruelling" 16 hours in the emergency room on May 9 with her 10-month-old son, who at the time had a three-day fever.
She told CTV News she checked with about a dozen clinics if they could see her son after speaking with a nurse at Info-Santé 811, but she couldn't find an appointment within the next 36 hours.
That's when she decided to go to the Montreal Children's Hospital out of desperation, even though she knew her son's condition wasn't an emergency.
"Within, I think, the 10-hour mark, I thought I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream," she said. "It was not just myself. Many parents were extremely upset, many parents left not knowing what to do and just couldn't endure it."
Having returned home from the long hospital visit, she posted about her experience on a Facebook group for Montreal moms and was soon overwhelmed by the response. She said some parents reported waiting up to 23 hours in the ER a week earlier.
"They didn't know what to do. They couldn't leave because they felt that they were a bad parent for leaving. But they have no option," she said.
"Parents... told me they were crying in the emergency room, they were desperate," she said. "No one was there to help them and there was nothing they could do."
PETITION LAUNCHED
Alexandra Bogdanova went through a similar experience with her three-year-old son on May 4.
She went to the Montreal Children's Hospital after her son had a fever for five days and couldn't find an appointment at any of the clinics nearby.
She said she waited more than nine hours before seeing a doctor.
"There was some point when I actually started to cry," she told CTV on Tuesday. "I couldn't take it anymore. It was crazy. It was huge amounts of people, a huge amount of sick kids."
After finally seeing a doctor, her son was prescribed some antibiotics. But after finishing the seven-day drug regimen, the fever came back, she said.
"Traumatized" from the ER wait, she decided to go to a private clinic this time and pay $360 out of pocket for a doctor, who prescribed a stronger dose of antibiotics, which did the trick.
Because of the "anger" and "frustration" she went through and hearing other parents' stories, Carli wanted to do something about it, so she started an online petition.
She also wrote an open letter to Premier François Legault and Health Minister Christian Dubé, pleading for the "immediate" reinstatement of the hotline.
The service was widely considered a success. In about six months, it helped parents book 45,000 appointments with an average wait time on the phone of just over two minutes, according to Montreal Public Health.
More importantly, Nguyen said, it helped reduce the volume in the ER at the Montreal Children's Hospital and Ste-Justine Hospital by 15 to 20 per cent. Overall, she hailed the program as a win.
"If you spoke with emergency department staff and emergency department physicians, what they'll tell you is that that that non-negligible percentage allowed them to really focus on patients who really needed emergency-room care," Nguyen said.
"And it helped with staff well-being, it helped with patients who really needed emergency care and it helped with admissions."
The François Legault government announced a major pre-election reform of health-care services, including a plan to set up a phone line, called GAP, to put people in touch with health-care professionals for consultations. It has not yet been launched.
By Tuesday evening, Carli's petition had collected 882 signatures.
"It’s been frustratingly difficult and slow to find help for my infant and three year old since my paediatrician [sic] retired and we lost access to our emergency kids clinic," wrote one person who signed the petition.
"When we have an issue that is urgent but not an emergency we have nowhere to turn to. This is unacceptable for our kids."
"This service is needed now!" wrote another person. "It only makes good sense to keep this as a normal practice."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday at Donald Trump's hush money trial, describing for jurors a sexual encounter the porn actor says she had with him in 2006 that resulted in her being paid off to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
CFL suspends Argos QB Chad Kelly at least nine games following investigation
The CFL suspended Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for at least nine regular-season games Tuesday following its investigation into a lawsuit filed by a former strength-and-conditioning coach against both the player and club.