Hospital asks pregnant patients to divert to Fredericton for fifth time this year
By Nathan Cox – LJI Reporter
For the fifth time this year, pregnant patients normally served by the Upper River Valley Hospital (URVH) will be diverted to the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital (DECRH) in Fredericton.
The closure is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. on Friday, May 22, and end at 8 a.m. on Monday, June 1.
The scenario is a scary one for local parents waiting for a new arrival.
Mariah Jackson and her partner, Fernando Gonzalez, know this fear all too well.
Jackson knew her third labour would be fast, but she never expected the delivery room to be the front seat of a car parked on the shoulder of the highway to Fredericton.
On the morning of Sunday, April 19, Jackson and Gonzalez had to head towards Fredericton. The URVH labour and birth unit was closed due to a staffing shortage. The result was Jackson giving birth to her third child, Liam Gonzalez Jackson, at kilometre 242 on the Trans-Canada Highway.
“[Liam] was born at 9:18 a.m.,” Jackson said. “Fernando delivered him.”
The family’s experience began two days earlier, on Friday, April 17, when Jackson began having irregular contractions. Despite living only minutes away from the URVH, the couple was told the facility was on divert and could not perform a checkup. The couple had to drive over an hour to the DECRH and were quickly sent on their way.
“We were in the hospital for maybe half an hour, and then they ended up just sending us home and said nothing was going on. Like, come back when [the contractions] pick up,” said Jackson.
By Sunday morning, the situation became critical. Jackson’s contractions intensified around 7:00 a.m. and by the time the couple began the drive to Fredericton at 8:30 a.m., she realized they were running out of time.
“Between 9:00 and 9:10, I said, ‘ Okay, we’re not going to make it,’” Jackson said.
Jackson’s mother, driving ahead of the couple, called an ambulance, which then contacted them and urged them to pull over at the next exit. However, the baby wouldn’t wait.
Jackson said the birth was quick and terrifying.
“When Liam was born, he was quite blue. He was having quite a bit of trouble breathing. I’m assuming he just had stuff in his lungs,” Jackson said. “That really scared me. There were no monitors, no doctor, you have no clue how long he was struggling before he was born.”
An ambulance arrived approximately ten minutes after the birth. Paramedics administered oxygen and suctioned Liam’s airways before transporting the family the rest of the way to the DECRH. While Liam was quickly cleared by nurses, the trauma of the event has lingered.
“Two days after, I thought about it. I was almost blaming myself,” Gonzalez said.
Jackson added that every minor hiccup with the newborn now triggers anxiety that something might have been missed because they weren’t in a clinical setting during birth.
In response to the incident, Horizon Health acknowledged the challenges facing the facility and the impact on local families.
“Patient safety is our top priority, and we understand the distress and anxiety that may come when labour and birth services are not consistently available close to home,” Dr. Ken Gillespie, Physician Lead, Horizon Women and Children’s Health Program, said in a statement.
“Horizon continues to actively recruit surgeons, anesthetists, and OR-trained nurses to address the staffing gaps that have contributed to temporary diversions at Upper River Valley Hospital. We remain fully committed to providing safe, sustainable and consistent access to labour and birth services at Upper River Valley Hospital.”
This statement came just before a story in a provincial newspaper (Telegraph-Journal) about another family that had a similar experience involving the diversion practices at URVH.
Lauren Atkinson had to give birth on the sidewalk outside of the DECRH in Fredericton, with her husband Nick Atkinson delivering the baby. The River Valley Sun reached out to the parents to request an interview, but the couple respectfully declined.
While the overall experience is not what Jackson and Gonzalez had hoped for, they do not blame the health care professionals at URVH.
“I don’t blame the people who work at the hospital. They are super compassionate about [diversion]. They feel super bad,” said Jackson.
The couple is urging Horizon to consider hiring more personnel in the event of an emergency.
“For Horizon in general, if it were an emergency, they should be able to at least take emergency cases,” Jackson said.
