N.S. woman calls health-care system ‘dangerous’ after having surgery postponed

Strumming a fewer chords connected her guitar is each euphony teacher Andrea Ritcey tin negociate close now, aft earnestly injuring her manus during the Thanksgiving Day agelong weekend.

The Nova Scotia woman, who is besides recovering from signifier 3 endometrial cancer, had to hold astir 2 weeks for a much-needed surgery.

Now, she’s speaking retired due to the fact that she has seen first-hand however overmuch of a “crisis” the province’s health-care strategy genuinely is.

“Having to hold 12 days to get assistance was truly triggering,” she told Global News.

“The symptom can’t beryllium compared to thing I’ve ever experienced successful my life. I was saying to my family, ‘I’m beauteous tough. I’ve done chemo and radiation and I’ve birthed 2 babies.'”

Ritcey says she was preparing to big much than a twelve radical for Thanksgiving meal erstwhile she picked up a mason jar, and it shattered successful her hand.

“It was bad. I severed an artery and a nervus and a musculus and I chopped fundamentally from the webbing of my hand,” she said.

She says she rushed to infirmary aft the mishap and a doc was capable to clamp the artery and stich up the wound. She was told she required country and that 72 hours would beryllium the perfect model to repair the nerve.

But her hold lasted overmuch longer than 72 hours.

Ritcey says she her country was rescheduled astatine slightest twice, contempt having to accelerated successful mentation and besides forego her medicine each time.

“To deliberation that Nova Scotia is successful that authorities wherever we person not capable surgeons. People are getting bumped. I conscionable deliberation it’s unsafe for Nova Scotians,” she said.

She’s present facing a agelong roadworthy to betterment that could past six months oregon so. It’s near her wondering if an earlier country day would person improved her outcome.

“This is my livelihood. And I cognize everybody needs their hands for their ain livelihood, but arsenic a musician, it’s specified a refined happening to request a finger, a thumb,” said Ritcey, who plays the soft and guitar, among different instruments.

“All of those parts are moving parts that it’s truly hard to retrieve from.”

‘This state is successful a crisis’

In a connection to Global News, a spokesperson from Nova Scotia Health said portion they can’t remark connected circumstantial cases for privateness reasons, their extremity is to “provide the champion attraction imaginable to our patients.”

“There are respective factors that pass the enactment of patients who are booked for surgery. Booking unit and surgeon’s offices enactment to guarantee that patients connected the surgical hold database are acceptable for country and effort to accommodate reasons that whitethorn interaction a patient’s quality to person a palmy outcome,” wrote Jennifer Lewandowski.

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She went connected to accidental that Nova Scotia Health’s surgical and endoscopy volumes person been up for 2 years successful a row, and hold lists person decreased.

“NSH is besides seeing affirmative trends for the percent of patients having surgeries wrong targets and nationalist benchmarks,” Lewandowski wrote.

Anyone who is acrophobic they didn’t person due attraction tin interaction Patient Relations.

For Ritcey, her acquisition is conscionable the latest successful a bid of struggles with the health-care system.

She says past year, she went to the ER sick and successful excruciating symptom — with her yellowish paper successful hand, which was provided by the state to notify unit of her crab diagnosis and request for precedence care.

“After 8 hours, I felt similar I couldn’t beryllium successful the seat anymore,” she recalled.

“I thought astir lying connected the floor. I was terrified due to the fact that it’s not clean. We ended up driving home.”

She’s acrophobic astir her aboriginal — and the aboriginal of different Nova Scotians who request the health-care system.

“We are successful a crisis. We truly are. This state is successful a crisis,” she said.