New Brunswick: Couple say they couldn't get French-language services at Saint John hospital

[Harold Schiffman]

Couple say they couldn't get French-language services at Saint John hospital

Last Updated: Thursday, November 29, 2007 | 12:16 PM AT
CBC News

A French-speaking couple from northern New Brunswick are deeply upset
after spending 21 days in a Saint John hospital with little
French-language assistance. Annelle and Romain Bouchard made the trip
from Maltais, a small community outside of Campbellton, to the Saint
John Regional Hospital earlier this month so Romain could get heart
surgery. After his surgery, he developed a serious complication with
his lungs. Unilingual Annelle Bouchard said there seemed to be no one
on the hospital staff who could explain to her in French what was
happening to her husband. "My husband died two times — and they were
forced to revive him twice. They called me at the Tim Hortons. It was
an English person, an English person explained it to me, and they know
I don't speak English," Bouchard told CBC News.

When Annelle Bouchard arrived back at the hospital to find Romain
Bouchard in intensive care, there were still no French-speaking staff
available to explain the situation to her, she said. On a number of
occasions, Bouchard said she was forced to find family members of
other patients who were bilingual to translate. Nicole Sluyter
befriended the couple part way through their stay and became their
primary translator. She found it shocking that in a bilingual
province, it would be so difficult to get service in French, and she
thinks the Bouchards were let down by the hospital, she said. "We're
not talking a foreign language from Japan here. It's not Japanese,"
Sluyter said. "French, English and you can't communicate when you're
almost dying or you could die, and you can't get anyone to explain to
you what's going on. That is pretty sad."

Patients from all parts of the province who need cardiac care go to
the heart centre in Saint John. The hospital has a language policy
stating that service will be provided to any patient in their choice
of French or English. But hospital spokesperson Patricia Crowdis
couldn't confirm for CBC News how many of its staff members actually
speak French. Crowdis would not comment on the Bouchards' case but
said any patient who has problems with hospital service can file a
complaint. One hasn't yet come in from the Bouchards, she said.
Sluyter said the irony is there likely was no one available who could
have understood their complaint. Provincial Health Minister Michael
Murphy said if the Bouchards' story is accurate, then it's an
unacceptable situation.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2007/11/29/hospital-french.html

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