Criticism increasing over cougar shot and killed at South Health Campus

[Chill Cosby]

Should've sniped it from the other side of the map.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by SebC

Planning ahead for growth would mean planning ahead to put a hospital there.

... or not blowing up / selling off hospitals downtown.

So the current gov't needs to be held responsible for previous gov't's decisions.


I will say this, those two inner city hospitals were not easily accessable by a large part of the population, and prehaps presented a bit of "over saturation of the market". To me they seemed to be located very close to each other. While it will never happen, I am more a fan of smaller hospitals. You could have more in each area of town. They would be easier to put up in a short period of time.


At least the south hospital is easily accessible for a large chunk of southern Calgary.

The current Childern's location is piss poor (that being said the place is amazing, they took great care of my daughter when she had surgery).

[Daradon]

Well, the Children's Hospital doesn't need to be in a good location as it's a specialty hospital. It gets kids from all over the country (well mostly Western Canada) and world. Can't really 'centralize' that.

Also, while I believe it has an emergency room, that's not it's point. It's meant to bring in kids who need specialized treatment. No real need to centralize a hospital that doesn't focus on emergency treatment.

The South Health Campus is in an excellent place for how Calgary is growing. The other emergency clinic in South Calgary in Sundance, became one of the busiest locations overnight. It's only problem is it's not a full fledged hospital. Not only does it not have overnight beds, it's emergency closes at 11:00 PM I think.

Before the South Health Campus, the furthest hospital south was the Rockyview. And it was very small for quite some time, also just finishing renos with new beds.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Daradon

Well, the Children's Hospital doesn't need to be in a good location as it's a specialty hospital. It gets kids from all over the country (well mostly Western Canada) and world. Can't really 'centralize' that.

Also, while I believe it has an emergency room, that's not it's point. It's meant to bring in kids who need specialized treatment. No real need to centralize a hospital that doesn't focus on emergency treatment.

The South Health Campus is in an excellent place for how Calgary is growing. The other emergency clinic in South Calgary in Sundance, became one of the busiest locations overnight. It's only problem is it's not a full fledged hospital. Not only does it not have overnight beds, it's emergency closes at 11:00 PM I think.

Before the South Health Campus, the furthest hospital south was the Rockyview. And it was very small for quite some time, also just finishing renos with new beds.

Daradon, it is very much a front line hospital for children, inclusive of an ER. I have been to Foothills years ago with my daughter and told to take her to the Children's (located on 17th @ Crowchild at the time).

[Daradon]

Is it? Ok then, I stand corrected! Never had to take a child there.

I'm far more familiar with the old one. And that was for issues I suffered as a child.

I stand by the statement that the South Hospital is in a perfect place for it, given where other hospitals and clinics are, and how the city is growing. Even if there are cougars, there, haha.

[Daradon]

Ahhh, but you named the old one too. Hang on, now I'm confused.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Daradon

Is it? Ok then, I stand corrected! Never had to take a child there.

I'm far more familiar with the old one. And that was for issues I suffered as a child.

I stand by the statement that the South Hospital is in a perfect place for it, given where other hospitals and clinics are, and how the city is growing. Even if there are cougars, there, haha.

Originally Posted by Daradon

Ahhh, but you named the old one too. Hang on, now I'm confused.

Yeah I can see you confuse easily.....

My point was that often "adult" hospitals would send you to the Children's, as it has an ER (both the new one and the old one did).

I agree the new south one is in a a great location. Access is excellent via Deerfoot.

[ExiledFlamesFan]

This is the first time I've ever heard that the Children's is in a poor location while SHC is a great location.

Children's is in a great location. It is on the west campus of the university, and 5 minutes to our other trauma hospital (Foothills). If you live on the edge of the earth in the deep south it may be a nuisance to get to but for the city as a whole it is fine.

These health/research/university/acute care complexes are very popular for good reason. Foothills/Children's/UofC makes up Calgary's most important health centre.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Yeah I can see you confuse easily.....

My point was that often "adult" hospitals would send you to the Children's, as it has an ER (both the new one and the old one did).

I agree the new south one is in a a great location. Access is excellent via Deerfoot.

Yeah I do, I will admit.

So your saying you don't like the location of the new children's hospital? And they still use it as a principle care center or emergency center for children? I mean, I get they had an ER, I mentioned that in my first post about it, but I'm a little surprised other ER's routed you there. Then, I agree, the location would matter, and yeah, it's very NW.

[ExiledFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Daradon

Yeah I do, I will admit.

So your saying you don't like the location of the new children's hospital? And they still use it as a principle care center or emergency center for children? I mean, I get they had an ER, I mentioned that in my first post about it, but I'm a little surprised other ER's routed you there. Then, I agree, the location would matter, and yeah, it's very NW.

Healthcare is very specialized. If you got shot in the dirty NE and walked into Peter Lougheed, they'd transfer you over to Foothills immediately because Foothills has all the trauma services. If you are in a car crash outside Rockyview and have head injuries, you will be transferred to Foothills because that's where neurosurgery is located.

Same goes for kids. All the pediatric specialties are located at Children's. It's all about giving you the best treatment for your injuries/health problems.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by ExiledFlamesFan

This is the first time I've ever heard that the Children's is in a poor location while SHC is a great location.

Children's is in a great location. It is on the west campus of the university, and 5 minutes to our other trauma hospital (Foothills). If you live on the edge of the earth in the deep south it may be a nuisance to get to but for the city as a whole it is fine.

These health/research/university/acute care complexes are very popular for good reason. Foothills/Children's/UofC makes up Calgary's most important health centre.

I can see you argument about the proximity to the Foothill's, but IIRC it is a stand alone hospital, not dependent on other facilities. I believe (but am going from memory) that they have all their own specialists on staff, including oncology. It can stand alone.

I guess those in the deep south don't deserve the same ability to meet the golden hour? Not only is it stuck up in the NW, it can be a pain in the ass to find. It isn't directly accessable from major roads, I think Shaganappi is behind it, but there is not access to the hospital.

Originally Posted by Daradon

Yeah I do, I will admit.

So your saying you don't like the location of the new children's hospital? And they still use it as a principle care center or emergency center for children? I mean, I get they had an ER, I mentioned that in my first post about it, but I'm a little surprised other ER's routed you there. Then, I agree, the location would matter, and yeah, it's very NW.

At the time they did, it was about 8 yrs ago

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by ExiledFlamesFan

Healthcare is very specialized. If you got shot in the dirty NE and walked into Peter Lougheed, they'd transfer you over to Foothills immediately because Foothills has all the trauma services. If you are in a car crash outside Rockyview and have head injuries, you will be transferred to Foothills because that's where neurosurgery is located.

Same goes for kids. All the pediatric specialties are located at Children's. It's all about giving you the best treatment for your injuries/health problems.

Which is why a more centralized location with access from major routes would have been better, IMO.

[CofR]

I work at FMC and I know that triage will send youth patients over to ACH rather than treat them there. But I know for sure that emerge at PLC and SHC have pediatric teams and they will triage and treat patients there. PLC even has a ped's inpatient unit.

[ExiledFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Which is why a more centralized location with access from major routes would have been better, IMO.

No offense man but I've never heard of a kid dying because Children's is "too far away" According to google maps it is 16 mins from the Bow downtown. Pretty central. As I mentioned, the adult trauma centre(Foothills) is only 5 mins from Children's

If your daughter is that sick that you don't think she'll be able to make it to Children's it's time you call an ambulance and let the professionals do their job.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by ExiledFlamesFan

This is the first time I've ever heard that the Children's is in a poor location while SHC is a great location.

Children's is in a great location. It is on the west campus of the university, and 5 minutes to our other trauma hospital (Foothills). If you live on the edge of the earth in the deep south it may be a nuisance to get to but for the city as a whole it is fine.

These health/research/university/acute care complexes are very popular for good reason. Foothills/Children's/UofC makes up Calgary's most important health centre.

Facility locations are always going to be an issue in a city as widespread as Calgary (700+ sqkm.) Folks will always feel alienated because they don't have a hospital (or whatever else) nearby. I agree with you that the Children's Hospital is in a great location. It is fairly centrally located, has pretty good access and is proximal to major health research centers in Calgary (Foothills/UofC.)

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I guess those in the deep south don't deserve the same ability to meet the golden hour? Not only is it stuck up in the NW, it can be a pain in the ass to find. It isn't directly accessable from major roads, I think Shaganappi is behind it, but there is not access to the hospital.

There is direct access from both Shaganappi (although only northbound Shag) and 16th Ave.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by ExiledFlamesFan

Healthcare is very specialized. If you got shot in the dirty NE and walked into Peter Lougheed, they'd transfer you over to Foothills immediately because Foothills has all the trauma services. If you are in a car crash outside Rockyview and have head injuries, you will be transferred to Foothills because that's where neurosurgery is located.

Same goes for kids. All the pediatric specialties are located at Children's. It's all about giving you the best treatment for your injuries/health problems.

Well yeah, I get that. My cardiologist is in the Lougheed and I live in Chap so it's very inconvenient to me, but it's part of the deal. I just thought most ER cases were rather interchangeable. For example, if I call with a heart attack (and this has happened) they'll generally take me to the closest ER to stabilize me, and then to the best place for heart trauma afterwards.

I do remember being asked (while in ambulance transit) if I thought I could make it to a further hospital though, so yeah, different hospitals have different specialties. A heart attack is a pretty serious emergency though. I'd wager 80-90 percent are not that serious. In fact, and this has been discussed by doctors and the health board in general, ER's get misused by a lot of people who really should just be searching out other health options or going to clinics. Not that I'm upset about that, I think further education on the issue will help, sometimes people just don't know, just that it goes to my estimation of where a heart attack call may fall in the queue.

But wouldn't most ER's be about the same? That's the whole point of having an ER, having it close. Once you stabilize the patient, then you can take them to a hospital better suited to their problem.

[ExiledFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Daradon

But wouldn't most ER's be about the same? That's the whole point of having an ER, having it close. Once you stabilize the patient, then you can take them to a hospital better suited to their problem.

No.

Hypothetical situation:

I have a heart attack. My coronary arteries are 90% occluded. I need an emergency cardiac catheterization or else I'll have catastrophic heart damage and die. Hopefully I am taken to Foothills because this is where the Libin heart institute is and they can do an emergent cardiac cath or even open heart surgery if needed. If I get sent to Lougheed/South Heath/Rockyview I'm dead for sure

Another situation:
I have a severe stroke. There is a bleed in my brain I need neurosurgery immediately, or else I'll die or have permanent brain damage. If I'm taken to Foothills they can rush me into the OR right away. If I'm taken to Lougheed/South Health/Rockyview I'm either dead or a vegetable.

Not all ER's are created equally.

[Daradon]

Ok that all makes sense to me. Especially the part about caths, as most of my caths have been done in the Foothills, so I do know that's the place to be. Mine were all exploratory though, not emergency, but I get your point. I thank you for your post, I'm outta thanks.

Except for the balloon/blade one I got in Houston at seven. But again, not an emergency, but a planned procedure. That's really neither here nor there, just bragging now.

Doesn't Libin have something in the Lougheed though? I know I've seen their logo there. Maybe just diagnostic stuff?

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by CofR

I work at FMC and I know that triage will send youth patients over to ACH rather than treat them there. But I know for sure that emerge at PLC and SHC have pediatric teams and they will triage and treat patients there. PLC even has a ped's inpatient unit.

Yes, Peter Lougheed and the Children's are both pediatric hospitals.

That being said, both of my rides from home to the hospital for my Son's Febrile Seizures (probably didn't need an ambulance, but that's a different discussion) were to the Children's - even though we nearly drive by the PLC on the way there.

The Children's has 100% private rooms in emergency, which is amazing.