What a dying man endured at Hamilton’s most overcrowded hospital at the epicentre of COVID’s fifth wave

Juravinski Hospital had been pushed to the brink by Omicron when an 83-year-old Grimsby man was sent there to die of cancer.

He wanted to spend his last days at home surrounded by his wife of 60 years and their beloved dog. But a crippling shortage of home-care staff - made worse by COVID - left the hospital as his only option.

I thought the hospital was a place to go when you were really sick and they would look after you," said his 78-year-old wife.

Instead they were thrust into what has been called the epicentre of Ontario's fifth wave. The week of Jan. 17 was the worst of it - a record 309 COVID patients and over 1,000 Hamilton hospital staff self-isolating.

I have to live with what he went through," said his wife. He never complained. But the poor man was in a lot of pain ... It was only me that looked after him."

She doesn't want her name used because she's fearful she'll be targeted for her frank message about COVID shots.

I wish people would get vaccinated," she said. I'm a victim of this situation. I'll never get over it. I will always have that memory."

More than one in 10 Hamiltonians haven't had a COVID shot. Nearly half haven't had a booster.

Hamilton data shows the unvaccinated are 5.4 times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID than those with two shots. The risk of an admission to intensive care is 10.1 times higher.

Hamilton's hospital networks have implored the public to get vaccinated as an extraordinary surge of COVID patients left them struggling to provide essential care. Juravinski has consistently had an occupancy rate above 120 per cent - ideal occupancy is 85 per cent to 90 per cent.

We're managing it as well as we can," Rob MacIsaac, CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences, said at a city briefing Monday unrelated to this case. But the truth of the matter is things have been less than ideal."

The hospital network expressed sympathy in a statement that said, Our staff and physicians are continuing to work hard to deliver safe care with the utmost compassion and respect for all patients despite extraordinary pressures."

The Grimsby couple were vaccinated - three shots. They got immunized as soon as they could because they remember a time when illnesses now kept at bay by vaccines caused widespread devastation. Plus, they wanted to do their duty to protect the health-care system.

It's not fair," said his widow. Nobody is there to look after these people that are sick and dying."

She thinks of one of the last things her husband said to her: The world is in a bad state."

She doesn't blame the hospital or the health-care workers - she saw with her own eyes what they were up against.

There wasn't enough staff, the whole ward was full," she said. There's a lot of other people in there in the same boat. I'm not the only one."

By the end, her husband was living on popsicles because a tumour in his esophagus made it nearly impossible to eat. She says no one noticed because no one removed the untouched food trays.

It was bothering me that it was sitting there all the time - a long time," she said. It was piled up ... It was just so obvious they didn't have the time to even take it away."

She did her best to take care of him, putting cold compresses on his head and trying to get him to sip water.

I'm not a nurse," she said. I don't know what he needs. I don't know what to do."

She says she could rarely get the attention of the overwhelmed staff.

It's just like you don't exist," she said.

She couldn't stay around the clock because there was nowhere for her to sleep, the dog couldn't be left alone and, quite frankly, she could only take so much.

I could only stay for so long and watch him in the pain he was in," she said. It was too much. It was too hard."

She hated to think about what it was like for him in that overcrowded and understaffed hospital.

I'm sure if I wasn't there, it wasn't done at all," she said.

The hospital called at 6 a.m. on Jan. 22 to tell her that the man she'd loved since she was 16-years-old had died.

He was alone," she fears. That hurts a lot."

It was a sad end to a joyful life spent happily married, working at Dofasco and later as a crossing guard.

He loved the kids," she said. He was so kind. He was such a good man."

The dog now searches the house for him while she hugs his clothes and thinks of her favourite moments.

Every time we had breakfast he would give me half of his banana and bring me a tangerine, and we would sit together and watch the birds outside the window," she said. I'm trying to hold on to those memories and forget that stuff at the hospital."

She says what they went through has only exacerbated her grief.

The pain is unbelievable," she said. A piece of me is gone now and I'll never get it back."

Joanna Frketich is a health reporter at The Spectator. jfrketich@thespec.com