regina senior says care at pasqua hospital was 'dehumanizing', family calls for change
mary balazs says she was regularly left to lay in urine-soaked sheets, not provided her dentures at meals and nurses did not check on her for hours at a time on some days.
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mary balazs, 93, pictured here at an event at her retirement home, said the level of care during a stay at regina's pasqua hospital in october 2024 was "dehumanizing." (photo supplied by lisa perkins)
at 93, mary balazs is no stranger to a hospital recovery, but she says a recent experience in regina’s pasqua hospital left her feeling less than human. “i can say that i’m scarred for my life because this was a horrible experience,” she said in a recent interview from her home. “it was a nightmare, it really was and i think about it almost every night.”
balazs was admitted to a medical recovery unit on oct. 22 and says the next nine days she spent there recuperating from pneumonia was “dehumanizing.” she said she was regularly left to lay in urine-soaked sheets, not provided her dentures at meals and nurses did not check on her for hours at a time on some days.
“for nine days, i never, ever had a drop of dry bed,” balazs said. “i can’t express how horrible this was and how i felt so uncared for.”
now the woman and her family are speaking out about what they characterized as an alarming lack of care in the regina hospital in hopes of sparking change.
her daughter, lisa perkins, says the family visited daily and provided most of the help their mother needed to bathe, use the restroom and eat, including moving her in and out of bed — tasks she said are meant to be done by nurses trained in safe patient transfer practices.
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the family described the quality of care as “brutal” and worried that it could lead to other health issues like bedsores. but of most concern was the toll it seemed to take their mother’s dignity and mental health.
“the night before mom was discharged, i went up to see her and she said to me, ‘lisa, i just feel so degraded’ and that she had told a nurse, ‘it is not my fault that i am still alive and breathing,’” said perkins.
“my heart sank because i thought about how sad she’d have to be to even think that, let alone say it.”
when balazs was discharged, perkins said she worried the decision was influenced by the expectations around care expressed by her family and said her mom wasn’t “up to 100 per cent yet.”
“i just wanted out of there,” balazs said. “it was all just a traumatic experience. i don’t think i’ll ever get over it.”
when asked to comment on the family’s concerns, the saskatchewan healthy authority (sha) said in a written statement that it “takes very seriously concerns about care experiences and interactions” within the health system.
“on occasion, staff availability or patient prioritization based on acuity may impact the frequency some patients are visited,” stated the email response, which went on to say that the sha is “continuously assessing staffing assignments to ensure the right care is given at the right time by the right care provider in the right care environment.”
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but the family says what balazs went through was not patient-centred care and they want these gaps addressed so that other patients don’t have the same experience.
“we want to be a voice for our mother but we also recognize all of the people who didn’t have family coming in everyday and we want to be a voice for them too because this is just not ok,” said perkins.
perkins said she overheard nurses on the ward talk about working sick, short-staffed and stressed and when she spoke with the unit manager, she was told they “had empathy for us” and that staff had been asking for more resources to no avail.
“she said this is what families need to do because they are not listening to us,” perkins added.
the family is calling for more staffing to lessen nurses’ workloads or the return of continuing care assistants (cca) to hospital wards to handle personal care tasks. perkins argued that a cca would have been able to provide the kind of care her mother needed.
ccas were deployed temporarily in hospitals in 2021 during the covid-19 pandemic as a way to aid units that were overcapacity, but that ended in may 2023.
perkins sent a letter sharing her family’s concerns to the minister of health’s office, premier scott moe, sha chief medical officer susan shaw and the saskatchewan ndp on nov. 4.
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she said a communications staffer from health minister jeremy cockrill’s office responded on nov. 24 and acknowledged the issues were on the radar, but the family has yet to receive a response from moe or shaw. newly elected regina rochdale mla joan pratchler said she’d look into the issue once she was sworn in.
perkins said a conversation with cockrill’s office resulted in a report being drafted by the staffer, which summarized balazs’ concerns and was sent to the minister. so far, no meetings have been arranged and the family is looking for more action.
perkins also spoke to the patient advocate the day her mother was discharged, but was told that they could not help and that there had been “cuts in that department.” the sha says there has not been any recent staffing reductions in the patient advocate office.
hospital capacity and staffing shortages have been on red alert in both saskatoon and regina since last fall, prompting the launch of emergent capacity pressure action plans for both cities.
health officials are also engaged in year two of an extensive health human resources action plan to recruit health-care workers to saskatchewan from within north america and overseas, which they say is making progress.
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earlier this month, however, the saskatchewan ndp noted hospitals in saskatoon continue to deal with dangerously high patient numbers and unsustainably low staffing levels.
“years ago, we used to be so proud of the health care that we had here. it seems it’s got to a point where it’s become totally low standards and i think our government needs to be accountable on the money they’re spending,” said perkins.
“they say a squeaky wheel is what gets the grease, so if we have to start the squeaking, we’ll squeak.”
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