Flashback: Tanu November 2010

I woke up this morning February 2 2015 shaking in a cold sweat crying and thinking of Randy.
The first day I went to Randy in 2010 (after VGH attempted to hide him)(I found him by accident) I was told by Nurse Ratchet that I was not to touch the bed or be given a chair nor was I allowed to talk to anyone unless I was spoken to first. Trust her she said as she had the power so that I would never see Randy again.  What policy book did she get that from. I am sure there is such a book be it verbal rather than written which only supervisors are privy to.

And she managed to get me 100% banned from seeing Randy in 2014 while he was dying.  There was nothing in the banning letters in January 2014 that said I could see Randy if he was near real death. After his death I cried for months and could do nothing to mitigate my loss.

Who are these people who make a game of demoralizing patients and their families.  And to make it worse to get me banned VCH got outside consultants who did not talk to me but did  write damaging reports that I was not allowed to dispute or know about.  In fact they say what they want because they are protected saying it is confidential. The consultants used hearsay from staff.  What a waste of money. What deceit. If I was an employee I would be horrified that they were doing this to them as well.

Another woman supervisor also told me in 2011 that I would never see Randy even on his death bed.  Her name was Ms. Linda Rose. This was after I asked the Chairman of the Board Kip Woodward for an investigation. When I relayed this to a social worker she said that it was something Linda Rose would do..

Who trains these people to be borderline psychopaths. Or do they just learn it on the job.:It is a game to them to see how long it takes to demoralize their prey. I see no other justification for causing such harm. I scream inside myself knowing how Randy was terrorized not knowing if he would ever see me again.  These medical bully-psychos are all around us in positions of minuet power that slowly compound causing incredible harm bordering on the barbaric. They are actors; they have no guilt or horror. 

I am not the only one they ban from hospitals in this way. It is noticeable: one day family members/friends are there, the next day they are never seen again. Again who is going to go against VCH after you are demoralized . Cameras should be in every ward to make sure that the nurses and patients and family members are treated with respect. I asked for a full investigation into all the allegations from 2010 and it was never done.


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My Randy

I just got a phone call from George Pearson Centre.  The phone was lifted to Randy's ear and I was told that upon hearing my voice, he started to cry.

All I get from the medical system is quality of life, quality of life. Randy they say has no quality of life so I should let him go.  It is Vancouver Coastal Health who is making sure Randy does not have a quality of life.

The threat of Linda Rose comes to mind when she said that I would never be allowed on Ward 2 even if Randy was on his death bed....what a bitch. And today Tanu said the same thing to me.

I went to see Randy from 1:00 to 3:00 at GPC.  I am very worried about him; he was so desponent. Towards the end of the second hour he was starting to become normal what normal is for him. We were in a family room which was boring as hell.  He has been in the hospitals for sixteen weeks straight and he looked like a man with no hope.

If Randy is as sick as GPC says then I should have access to his bedside. He is chronic and he can die any moment and I was told over a year ago that his life expectancy was two years. While crying I told Randy's social worker of this conversation with this doctor and his comment was the doctor shouldn't have told me this. Apparently, the policy of GPC is to never tell anyone the truth. How stupid am I not to make the connection as to why VCH were rationing his treatment and pushing and pushing for DNRs.  They had nothing to worry about me as after Randy is death I would be gone and who really is interested in an old woman and a non-productive patient who was draining the medical system. How could I be so stupid.

The only way I could get Randy back to GPC from VGH was to promise him that he would be able to come home every afternoon and instead he has been imprisoned.  He doesn't trust anyone.

When I called Ward 2 604.322.8370 to inquire about Randy on two different shifts the RNs who answered the phones would not give me their names although I had to give them my name.  I recognized their voices (Stephanie and Nereda) and I thought how stupid of these professional RNs who make $100,000 a year.  Both were part of the herd from Monday.  I was advised that Randy was fine and he was getting the best care available.   What a joke as I was reminded that one of the nurses not the two who make $100,000 could have infected Randy by reusing a contaminated suction catheter. Such bad use is not a one time event on Ward 2: it is deliberate: it is to save money. This is why family members should have 24/7 access and also educate themselves to some of the protocols to make sure staff is doing things according to protocol.  But according to my information there is no official protocol as to best practices to suction in VGH.  No wonder every resident it seems from GPC has pneumonia.

In the context of a coercive institutional environment how can anyone measure competency.

kip.woodward@vch.ca
604.875.4719

I haven't given up on Randy

I haven't given up on Randy. It is so overwhelming that I needed to focus on something else so here it is: we should limit the size of non-profits to neighbour councils or better yet get rid of them altogether.

As for Randy today is such a beautiful day and I am prevented from visiting Randy. The policies of VCH is getting very upsetting to me.

I was told that "the team" decided on my banning ten months ago. At Randy's Annual Review in November which I attended none of the team (some 15 responsible for his care) knew that they were part of the team that banned me in fact my banning was never discussed with them. Dr. Dunne, the medical director for GPC wasn't there, but earlier he had said that he won't ban anyone from seeing anyone in the hospital. So these decisions that affect the care (the will to live) of patients are not those of the care team. So it is back to Linda Rose, the director of Residential Care, who never met me before the banning and only once after and/or Bob Chapman the director of Risk Management who I had met the week before my banning but as I exited that meeting I remember saying that no one was even listening to what I was saying over the fact that I was being bullied by GPC. A week later I got banned because of the bullies and their targetted treatment of me. It was open season on me because Mr. Chapman did not do his job. First by not listening to me and second by not doing anything expeditiously. But then how could he do anything expeditiously when he didn't even listen to what I was saying. The day after the banning I protested at GPC with a sign on the sidewalk boulevard, the police were called and told GPC that protesting on the sidewalk was legal, and I remember telling the social worker at that time that no one listened to me at the meeting.

Things have to change with non-profits: full legal due process when it affects a person's rights of association has to happened and just to remind all Vancouver Coastal Health is a non-profit society which makes its own laws disguised as policies and there is no appeal process. If you want something to go your way, you have to suck up to not only to management but also the lowest of the low paid employees as well. No wonder bribery is rampant in third world countries. You pay or suck up.

I am off to Safeway to check out the prices that an individual got as free food from the the Food Bank on Thursday. It doesn't seem to be worth the three-four hours it takes to get the free food most of which an individual might not buy in the first place. What happened before we had the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. I remember being poor when I was young. But I do not remember any talk about food banks. This is what happens when you work for fifty years of your life, you don't know what is going on. And now when you do, you realize that no one else does either. And who do I blame, I blame the CBC.
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Whatever It Takes

When Randy was introduced to the "letterboard" the first word he spelt was HELP.

Yesterday I phoned GPC 604-322-8370 and left messages at 11:00 am, 2:00 pm and 3:00pm for Randy's nurse to call me. In the last message I said that if staff did not telephone me I would go to GPC to check on Randy and my restriction not to enter Ward 2 be damned.

Randy is suppose to be getting 6.5 hours of care a day and I do not know what he gets. I do not think records are being kept. But one thing for sure is that a telephone can be answered.

Gray Cup day. Last year I was at GPC during Gray Cup day and it had a festive atmosphere with delivered pizzas and drinks and all the staff fixated on the game. There was only one nurse who told me she didn't like football and was looking after the residents/patients. Napolean (Ostrow) should be there to see what really is going on during sports championship events. And what about the Chairman of the Board, Kip Woodward (604-875-4719). The gentleman that assured me that he would look into my allegations of bullying by staff, visitors and residents. My concerns were brought up at the VCH open board meeting on June 8 2011 and I was assured by Linda Rose that an independent investigation would be done. This she promised in front of Kip Woodwards' assistant (Kip Woodward is the chairman of VCH). A month later, Linda Rose told me that an independent investigation was not necessay. But, Linda Rose, it is necessary because you promised me that it would happen. What about my reputation and the humiliations I have to face each day, what about denying Randy his rights to see me when he wants (none of my restrictions apply to anyone else so therefore it is baltant discrimination). Your agrument that the hospital is privately owned doesn't wash with the wrongs you have imposed. How can anyone trust Vancouver Coastal Health. The policy of Vancouver Coastal Health seems to be wait until you give up or the resident dies or better yet the caring friend dies. Linda Rose is a paid director of Vancouver Coastal Health. She oversees the management of GPC.

On Thursday the Recreation Department took Randy and I to Oakridge mall for an hour's outing. Randy seemed happy to get out of GPC even for one hour. We checked my three BC lotto tickets (no winning numbers), checked out the board games store, and ended up at Oakridge Seniors Centre. I am a member and so is Randy.

On Friday Randy was up and waiting for me. We were together for four hours. We went offsite to Dylan's coffee shop and then back to the piano room where he did lettering and then we played a simple card game. He will need a lot of therapy as he needs a lot of reinforcement to relearn. If I wasn't there who would be assigned to do this. I do not think there would be anyone. I recently spoke to one resident who told me that he doesn't know how to read or write and he has been there for twenty years. A volunteer or a student teacher could do this job for free.

Where is the commonsense, where is the leadership...where is the quality of life mantra...where is Kip Woodward and the Board (board.chair@vch.ca). Better yet where is Christy Clark (604-666-8380), the woman who is the premier of British Columbia and her government is for families. The government is only there so that VCH can do whatever it wants with impunity. Beware of the creeping powers of non-profits. VCH is a non-profit which is on par with a corporation in that it is not a living person. In 2012 a new law governing non-profits will be enacted, it is already written and it is scary. I suspect it will be passed in the middle of the night.
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