‘Thank you … to everyone at Sechelt Hospital who helped save the day for us all’

A son shares a letter of thanks about the care his elderly mum received at Sechelt Hospital after a nasty fall while on a visit from the UK.

I am writing because I want to share a personal story regarding the fantastic team in the ED at Sechelt Hospital.

My parents visited me from the UK this summer and while we were on the Sunshine Coast at Egmont my Mum had a nasty fall down a long flight of concrete steps. She was patched up locally and then we took her to the Sechelt ED because she needed stitches and we were concerned about her other injuries and possible concussion.

The team members there were excellent and I cannot praise them highly enough. My Mum was quickly checked in, assessed and treated. They immediately identified her high blood pressure and took immediate action to settle her. Given her terrible fall, she was quite banged up with a nasty head wound, with bruises down one entire side of her body and a lot aches and pains. Being such a serious situation, we were all quite worried but the team reassured us, answering our questions, as well as providing the prompt treatment.

My parents, who are unfamiliar with Canadian healthcare, had an extra level of anxiety, but the team were very reassuring and advised on recovery over the following few days and what to look out for. We were at the hospital for a couple of hours and the experience we came away with was one of efficient, compassionate care, which was not rushed.

My parents, who are now back in the UK, commented again this morning how impressed that have been with VCH. Their expectations have been exceeded in terms of the quality of care and the excellent facilities in Sechelt. And they have been impressed not only by the clinical team but also the administrative support. My parents have had to claim the costs of the treatment back from their travel insurer. One of the requirements it to include original documentation as part of the claim which my Dad recently discussed over the telephone with them. So to have original invoices and receipts arrive in the mail this morning, just as the Sechelt team promised, was very impressive. Small things make a huge difference, especially during stressful and costly situations. Inevitably, they have compared VCH with the UK’s NHS and VCH has come out with a top score in their view!

So thank you, on behalf of my parents, and from myself to everyone at Sechelt Hospital who helped save the day for us all. You have a great team there.