Carolynne Franklin, Ward 71 councillor
Further to the article “Clinic accused of denying pregnant woman help“ (Bulletin, May 9) regarding the alleged failure of City staff to assist a community member in labour.
As soon as I became aware of this incident (which in fact happened just as I had left Westlake after a morning of site visits) I sent an email to the office of the executive director of community services and health asking for an investigation into the incident – this was the reply:
“On the day of the incident, the professional nurse on duty was in the process of consulting a sick child, with several other sick children and clients awaiting consultation in the clinic.
“According to the enrolled nurse, a community member informed her that it appeared as if someone was giving birth on the street at the back of the clinic and that there was a doctor from the NPO assisting the lady. The community member said that the ambulance had been called but was taking too long and asked the staff to follow-up on the ambulance and to go check on the lady in labour.
“Emergency/ambulance services were summoned by the clinic staff; however, ambulance services requested details of the pregnant lady, which the clinic staff did not have, at which point the community member was asked to collect these details from the lady outside.
“In the interim the enrolled nurse informed the professional nurse of the incident. When the community member returned with the details requested, she informed the clinic staff that the ambulance had arrived. Based on this information, the matter was considered in hand with the emergency services, and those awaiting assistance in the clinic were attended to.”
I also took the opportunity to ask for stats as to the professed staff shortages at the clinic and am awaiting the reply from the directorate about any mitigation measures they are looking at implementing.
In the interim, I have instituted an online survey to understand the constraints and frustrations that users of Westlake clinic may be experiencing – this can be accessed via https://surveyheart.com/or via our Westlake Ikasi Lam Facebook page. It is only with this factual data that I will be able to action further interventions. So all clients of the clinic are encouraged to help me to help them by participating in the survey.