Centre hospitalier de Coaticook: Emergency Room

All hospitals in Quebec are suppose to accept all Quebec residences; however, I got the impression that this hospital seems to cater more to locals who live in the immediate surrounding areas. If you are not a local, or from Sherbrooke, you will not get the same treatment. A nurse I spoke too on the telephone at the diabetic clinic at the Hotel Dieu hospital suggested that I go to Coaticook because they are less busy than the ERs in Sherbrooke. She couldn't get someone at the Hotel Dieu to see me when I called. So I went to the Coaticook ER due to going 3 years with illnesses not being regulated nor followed up on. I do not have a GP and are on a waiting list for one. When I arrived at the Coaticook ER there were only 3 people. The nurse at the triage measured my blood pressure at 177/88 and glucose at 11. She told me that my situation was not urgent and I would be code yellow, which means that I would be waiting long in the ER to see a doctor. Instead she redirected me to see another doctor in Sherbrooke. I got to see a doctor the next day in Sherbrooke who wasn't pleased that I was sent to her. She said that the hospital in Coaticook should have taken me that day instead of sending me to her a day later. She asked me how many patients were in the ER when they redirected me to her. When I told her there were 3 she replied, "They're really busy over there with only 3 patients. Instead they send you here to me instead." This doctor was clearly upset and annoyed that I was sent to her, as well as too busy to properly treat me. Over 2 weeks after seeing this doctor none of the heath issues I went to the Coaticook ER to resolve was taken care of in a timely manner. The doctor is way too busy!!! She doesn't even have time to respond to faxes from my pharmacist. So I called the ER in Coaticook to inform them of this, considering that they were responsible for redirecting me out of their hospital to a doctor in Sherbrooke who didn't have time to deal with me. I was told by the person I spoke with on the phone to return back to the ER. She said that they were not busy. This time, when I arrived at the ER, there were a lot more people than the first time I went! But yet the first time they were too busy? The nurse at the triage tagged me as code blue, which is a higher priority than code yellow. While I was there they were passing code yellow patients before me. Even the friendly guy who greets patients at the door told me, when I was leaving, that my wait in the ER was way too long. I saw a doctor for less than 10 minutes, who finally gave me the prescriptions I needed. They were polite. But I was rushed through so fast that they almost forgot to put a prescription that needed renewing in their name until I reminded them too. I was given new medications without being informed on how to be followed up on them. The doctor told me that the ER wasn't the place for my kind of situation; however, everyone knows that most people these days go to ERs due to not having access to a GP. The ER doctor didn't agree with what was said about them by the doctor that the Coaticook ER redirected me too. They said the ER was more of a place for those with arms cut wide open with blood pouring out. LOL So I got the impression that unless that's you they don't want you going to their ER. Or maybe that's just their rule for residences of Sherbrooke who go there? I give the Coaticook ER a 3 star for putting a small effort in providing me with fast food healthcare as a response to correcting their lack of care the first time I went. I'm actually disappointed considering how much the nurse at the diabetic clinic at the Hotel Dieu reassured me on the care I would receive there. It seems Coaticook ER runs by their own rules rather than that of the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux de l'Estrie. Or maybe it's the fault of the doctor they sent me too? Either way, they were responsible for that as well. I received much better quality healthcare in Cuba than here. This ER is Okay. Not bad, not excellent. Better than Sherbrooke ERs.