Recent UHNBC patient wants PG Healthcare Workers Day declared

There’s a patient at UHNBC that wants there to be a Prince George Healthcare Workers Day declared because of the actions he saw the dedicated hospital staff take during his recent stay.

Bill Glasgow ended up in the University Hospital of Northern BC because of complications of an illness.

He spent the last eight of 10 days in hospital.

He spent two days in the emergency room during his first stint where he was treated with kindness and compassion and then ended up back there a couple of days later in an area staff called a 'pop-up ward' where he saw surgical staff take on the duties of caring for patients.

“The emergency room staff was very compassionate and selfless and understanding,” Glasgow said about his first stay. “They were just fantastic people to deal with and not once did I hear one person complain.”

A week ago Glasgow had pain at his IV site and the nurse tried to change it.

Ninety minutes, three nurses, a doctor and one damaged vein later it was done.

“As soon as it was done, the nurse that stayed with me through that whole process immediately went next door to an elderly gentleman who had no family there, who was belligerent and cranky and she went in and fed him supper for an hour and talked to him and cared for him and made sure he was eating properly,” Glasgow said. “And I thought ‘wow you just don’t get care like that these days’. If our world was more like that wow, we’d have a really good world to live in.”

Glasgow was released only to start the process all over again a couple of days later when the complication returned on Friday night and that’s when he went into the ‘pop-up ward’ in ambulatory care.

“They had taken all the chairs out where people would go to have IV medications and put beds in and all the staff were operating room nurses,” Glasgow explained. “These are people who normally don’t have to do IVs and stuff. There were a couple of elderly gentlemen who had incontinency issues and the nurses would take them in the bathroom, close the door, help them go to the bathroom, clean them up, get them back to their beds and then clean up the bathroom themselves afterwards. And I’m thinking ‘this is a nurse.’ The cafeteria staff would drop off meals and the nursing staff would deliver the meals to the patients - I think our healthcare professionals need a big shout out. I think there should be a Prince George Healthcare Workers Day where everybody pays tribute somehow - where they get a free meal at a local restaurant - something.”

Glasgow said he’s never seen care like this in his life.

“Especially in the middle of pandemonium during the pandemic that we’re in and these people are taking a deep breath and diving in feet first,” Glasgow said. “They deserve to be recognized.”