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stouffville suntribunem saturday nov 18200611 woman waits 42 hours in er for chemo 2day stay on stretcher raised at queens park by mike power staff writer a woman who needs chemotherapy waited nearly two days on a stretcher in the markham stouffville hospi tal emergency department before she could get a hospi tal bed i just felt so powerless waiting there said danielle galigiuri whose mother christel 63 was admitted to markham stouffville hospi tal at about 1 am monday she couldnt get her chemotherapy until she got a room we couldnt even find a pillow for her ms caligiuri said her mother has had multiple myeloma a kind of blood cancer for five years the condition spread to her liver causing severe pain and she wentto the hospital early monday morning where she found herself waiting for 42 hours john tory leader of the provincial progressive con servatives raised the issue in the legislature tuesday there is no bed for her she cant go on chemothera py so they have her on a morphine drip shes been on that drip on a stretcher in the emergency room in the markham stouffville hospi tal for more than 24 hours now shes not eating or drink ing shes literally lying there dying on the stretcher mr tory told minister of health and longterm care george smitherman according to a hansard excerpt i wonder how this can beand what you have to say to the family of ms caligiuri the number of acute care beds in ontario was cut by 22 per cent during the conserv atives eight years in power dubbing the situation a capacity challenge mr smitherman said what i would say to any family member in the province of ontario is that the circumstances with respect to our health care system are a shared chal lenge mr smitherman said although her mother now has a room she is still waiting for chemotherapy ms caligiuri said one step at a time she said were still happy to get a room she was quick to sympa thize with the emergency room doctors and nurses who she said seemed run off their feet its been an eyeopener for me to come and see this she said somebody needs to put some money into this most people needing chemotherapy dont have to wait once they have been seen by hematologist according a new release from markham stouffville hospi tal chemotherapy is rarely part of emergency treatment none of us want to see anyone waiting overnight on an emergency room stretch er but it does happen ers dont operate in isolation of the rest of the health care sys tem and system changes aire being addressed to build capacity address patient flow within the hospital and fur ther reduce wait times in emergency departments dr david austin chief of emergency said the hospital did not com ment on ms caligiuris spe cific case citing patient con fidentiality a recent provincial emer gency room funding announcement shows the government understands the need to address patient flow throughout hospitals dr austin said apart of your buy a page published in the stoufmhe suntribune suitable for mounting bright white finish fullsize fer unutd timehty ksgpwrfje iiiiiiiyj isewwssslgbpli taxes someone you know in the paper buy them a keepsake of their brush with fame electronic versions available for 1500 v limited time offer sunlribune 6290 main street stouffville 9056402612 1 i i j i mm c0kotc0mtouft the ultimate in sleeping comfort the most advanced independently responding pocket coil ever developed patenpending technology specifically engineered and crafted for simmons beaujyrest nonflip mattresses q3eautijrel the bowling ball mattress vvavsimmonscanadacom superb quality ft m 6touffville solidwoodbedroomsroon p fine furniture lmngroom sets to 00 m mm simmons sleep centre 6327 main st but i all your furniture needs in the heart of stouffville wvwstouffvillefinefumiturecom7 l rctfiiitirffto stouffville side rd