While male and female patients sharing hospital rooms is not an unusual practice, it is raising some concern among a group of local seniors who question whether it is the most appropriate way of delivering health care in the local hospital.
“It’s a lack of privacy,” said Paul Emile-Boisvert, speaking to the St. Paul Journal following a discussion he had with a groups of seniors last week. “As one lady told me, ‘Because I’m old, and because I’m sick, do they have to take the rest of my dignity away?’”
Boisvert, who is himself a senior, said he was asked by the group to bring the concern forward to the public. He said the issue came to a head recently when a female friend of the concerned group was hospitalized at the St. Therese Health Centre and was put in a room with two men.
“It’s a question of dignity where they see men and women put into the same room,” Boisvert said. “It’s mainly women that are speaking out in this case because they just feel there’s no reason for this policy to exist. At times, when the hospital is full okay. But, as one woman said to me, ‘I would rather be in the hospital hallway in a bed than in a room with three men.’”
Boisvert said he understands the women’s concerns, especially as they relate to shared bathroom use between men and women.
“One of the primary concerns is the bathroom. It’s not a sanitary situation in most cases because most men I know do not sit to use to toilet and when you get older you have all kinds of problems, where you should be sitting otherwise a mess occurs.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not always possible,” Michelle Blanchette, St. Therese Health Centre site manager, said of separating patient rooms to male/female only.
Blanchette said that while she understands that people may have a concern, it's important to recognize infection and isolation needs are first and foremost the consideration given to placing a patient in a specific room. Placement in a specific room is also limited by the number of beds available at any one time.
“If someone needs to be isolated, then they are in a private room as much as possible, unless, we have two people with same illness. If we have an influenza outbreak, we might put the ones with the influenza in the same room because they are not going to infect each other,” she said. “Palliative we really try to keep in a private room and maternity patients we try to keep in a private room, the rest is just based on what we have available.”
She said she understands there may be concern but said it is not unusual in health care facilities to have men and women sharing rooms.
“We try,” she said of the staff’s desire to make patients as comfortable as possible. “Some patients keep the curtains pulled if they’re with other patients of the opposite sex.”
Boisvert said concern is also being expressed over patient visitation in regards to the number of visitors in a room at any one time and people not abiding by the permitted visiting hours.
“The number of people coming to visit is just not being controlled.”
Blanchette said the general visiting hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. allow time for patient rest and treatment while also allowing them time with friends and families.
“We really try to allow people time to rest, because rest is very important but also not to restrict. It’s also lonely sometimes and they need interaction, so we don’t restrict visitors, but we do try and ask them to be considerate of other people."
