Written By Grant G
Been kinda busy lately, caring for my 87 year old mother in her Burnaby home, and boy oh boy do I have some stories to tell, the utter incompetence of Fraser Health and Burnaby Hospital...
Mom ended up in Burnaby hospital in November of 2020..She had a UTI, and Burnaby Hospital had a fire while she was there
https://www.citynews1130.com/video/2020/11/16/fire-aftermath-at-burnaby-hospital/
And boy did they fuck up.....Got a phone call from a Doctor Lee, he told me my mom was ready to come home in a couple of days...I said great, but then, I never heard anything from Burnaby hospital for 3 days, I kept calling trying to find out when she was coming home, I finally did get ahold of Doctor Lee again(visitors at that time were not allowed to visit patients, even family members because of covid)I asked Doctor Lee what's going on, you told me my mom was near ready to come home..
He told me my mom was dying, probably only a day or two left to live, I freaked out, I said to the doctor, what the hell happened, you told me she was near ready to come home and days later you tell me she is ready to die, and I can't even visit her....To which doctor Lee said..."you can come see her, you'll have to gown up and mask up"....I went there the next morning(earliest I could go)gowned up and went into her room, mom was laying flat on the bed, her lungs were gurgling, her OWN bipap breathing machine was on her face(Mom's Bipap life support travels with her as Burnaby hospital will not allow her to use their bipap machines in ICU)....I heard no air coming out of her bipap, I took the mask off and it wasn't running....I freaked out on the staff, ordered the nurse to increase her lasex and told them they put a mask on her face with no fucking air coming out of it.....I tilted mom's bed up so her chest was elevated and I turned on her bipap...I found doctor Lee in the ward and told him he's a fucking moron, doesn't know what he's doing and to keep away from my mom or else.....I told the nurse to have resident doctor Kathleen Kwan take over....Mom was near death, I was holding back tears...I left to make room for sister siblings waiting to see their dying mom....
I went home, and, I called my friend Steve at Clinical Sleep Solutions in North Vancouver, why did I call him? Because, what they didn't know at Burnaby Hospital, what Doctor Lee didn't know is that my mom's $4000.00 bipap breathing machine sends out real-time data to Steve at the sleep clinic, I asked Steve to download all the data from her bibpap for the last month to current....Steve called me back an hour later, he said something is terribly wrong....I said, send me the data....
The three weeks of data before she went into the hospital mom was averaging 12 hours of bipap time per day..which is about right, 10 hours at night and a couple of hours per day in naps, I know because I put the mask on her...In one week at Burnaby hospital, seven days, ...Mom had a total of 4 hours and 10 minutes of Bipap time, for the last week in Burnaby Hospital....What the fuck is going on!!!!..
I printed off the data, two copies of all the data, went to Burnaby Hospital, threw the data/paperwork, two copies on the nurses desk and said...What the fuck have you people done, you trying to kill my mom...Told them about the data, gave two copies, one for Dr. Kwan, and one copy for Burnaby hospital's legal department.
Burnaby hospital had no answers for me, they blamed the machine....I still have the machine, no repairs, and mom is at home, using the same bipap machine.
It was still touch and go, Dr. Kwan, after I persisted, allowed mom to come home to die...
Mom was enemic, weak, and near death.....but I got her home...I told my sisters that, i'm not sure if I can save her this time...
She came home on a Saturday, got fluids in her, got her bipap on and.....And the next day she was a little better...Within a week, after some home bloodwork done by Lifelabs, her family doctor Sundeep Grewal was amazed..He called me with the bloodwork results and told me, it's like she had a complete blood transfusion..
So, we have Covid pandemic, I did have care-aids coming to the house before she went to the hospital and after..However, with Covid raging and care aids who were not vaccinated I cancelled all care aid help...I'll do it all myself..
During the previous 3 years I had care aids to do peri-care a couple of times a day, and, during those years mom was at the hospital 2 to 3 times per year, always for infections....My mom, when she has a infection coming on, UTI etc etc etc...there is no warning signs, what happens is...She starts to shiver and within 2 hours of shivering she shuts down can't eat, drink or respond...At the hospital they run intravenous antibiotics as mom can't swallow pills...and sure as day turns to night within 10 hours mom comes back to life..
Since i've taken over her care, no care-aids mom has not returned to Burnaby hospital and I have standby antibiotics for pre-emptive use for potential UTI...I've had to give her those anti-biotics on 2 occasions when a UTI was coming on....I also got mom the Purewick external catheter system to keep her bottom dry....Now the deep butt wound Burnaby Hospital gave her healed up...4 years Fraser Health and care aids couldn't get her butt wound to heal, a wound that she got years earlier AT Burnaby Hospital, because they don't change elderly patients, they leave them in soiled underwear for days at a time...This IS FACT..(Purewick system I get from Red Leaf Medical in Ontario)
By the way...UTI kill seniors by the 1000s...If Fraser health got rid of internal catheters and used the purewick system they would save a ton of money and 1000s of live...Internal catheters are bacteria factories...Purewick is easy and my mom is dry 24/7
My mom, she can't walk...Heart problems, sleep apnea, nerve problems, breathing problems...in mom's Burnaby home we have...Hospital bed..Bipap..Oxygen concentrator and a patient lift...in other words, my mom is a shut-in and requires me to do everything, and I do..
If I listened to Fraser Health/Burnaby hospital doctors my mom would have been dead 5 years ago..
Mom has shallow breathing, and she's heavy, ....5 years ago, mom was at Burnaby hospital...her CO gasses were high, she wasn't blowing it off while sleeping(with CPAP)...When CO gasses rise, people become lethargic, delusional, sleepy...This happened, off to the ICU and put on Bipap in ICU...her gasses return to normal and she's fine..
What happened at that time, a Dr. Ahmad at Burnaby hospital ICU....I told Ahmad that mom needs her own bipap, and I can't buy one without a doctors order..Ahmad refused, said she didn't need it...I argued with him, he blew me off, 6 months go by and mom was back at ICU for the same thing...I asked Dr. Kwan for a letter so I could purchase a bipap, Dr. Kathleen Kwan gave me the letter...And I bought the new bipap while mom was at Burnaby ICU on their big bipap machine...And, as I found out later, they really increased her water pill dosage...
So, I brought the new bipap to the ICU, they set it up...and, I got a phone call. Burnaby hospital staffers and Dr. Ahmad wanted a "family meeting" to discuss mom's impending demise..
In this meeting, Doctor Ahmad told me my mom had run out of time, Dr Ahmad said the bipap machine i brought for her didn't reduce her blood gasses, and my mom would never come off the hospital high-powered bipap and mom couldn't stay in the ICU...I left the meeting in tears...however, I didn't leave the hospital, I went back to the ICU and asked mom's nurse for a list of all the meds and dose strength they were giving her...I got the list, left, went home and hit the computer..
The Water pills, in the dosage they were giving her...In bright bold warnings, beware of electrolyte losses with high doses of lasex(water pills)....hmm, then I researched the symptoms of electrolyte deficiency in seniors...Drowsiness, delusional, sleepy, non-responsive....
What bothered me was...Mom was fine the day before she went to the hospital at that time, how could she go from fine to dead?
That family meeting to tell me my mom was a goner...I didn't accept Dr. Ahmad's assertions..
Instead I went to the ICU, asked mom's nurse to give me a list of all the meds they were giving her and in what dosages....Then I did research and...
Returned that night to the ICU and managed to get my mom to drink a cup of Hydrate me, a high-powered electrolyte drink I bought at the drugstore..
I didn't know if it would help or not..Next morning I went to the ICU and..lo n behold mom's nurse said..Hey, she's alert this morning and eating...Hmmm, i told the staff nothing, gave mom more Hydrate me juice, and twice per day, morning and night for the next two days and my mom was now rocking....I then told mom's ICU nurse that...Since mom is alert and eating have your respiratory nurse try again with the home bipap machine i bought...and lo n behold..a few days of using her own bipap machine in ICU her blood gasses remained normal and I got her home..
Suffice to say...If I was a follower, a rube, a believer of doctors mom was dead years ago...Like I said, that was almost 5 years ago....Dr. Ahmad is another unqualified doctor..
Anyway, what does this have to do with BC Hydro?
I do all my mom's banking and online bill paying...
On June 29th I shipped $300 dollars to Mom's BC Hydro account(so I thought).....
Let's stop for a minute...My mom has had a BC Hydro account for over 40 years at her Burnaby home, she also had a BC Hydro account for a place on the Sunshine coast...That account is dead..however, on mom's banking bill payments section..Her Burnaby hydro account..right below it is the Sunshine coast defunct account number, I mistakenly sent $300 to the defunct account...
What happened next....August 24th..2021..12 noon..Power goes out...WTF...I check with neighbor, they have power..Call BC Hydro and they tell me the power has been disconnected because there is a $148.22 balance...I was freaking out..Mom's catheter shuts down, her oxygen machine shuts down..bed won't work, her special electric medical seating chair won't work..
I tell BC Hydro..hook up the power now, you're killing my mom...I have emergency portable oxygen for her...I made arrangements to pay this balance and they agreed to to restart the "smart meter"...This was 1 pm in the afternoon..Hours went by..no power, i called and called, talked to supervisors..all I got was bullshit nothing..I called 911...they blew me off, I called Burnaby RCMP, they blew me off..I called again to BC Hydro, another so-called supervisor...He told me..They tried to remotely turn on the smart meter and the connection failed...??? They did that at 3:03 pm....Then I was told that they'll have to send someone to the home the next day to replace the defective smart meter...(I've since learned that tens of thousands of defective smart meters need to be replaced every year and that if they shut them off there's a 1/3 chance they don't turn on...requiring a replacement)....and, the people who replace these dud smart meters they only work until 4:00 pm daily...in other words, I was told nobody was coming that day...I freaked out again, I told them at 1:00 pm that this is a emergency and they shut down my mom's medical equipment..
I kept calling BC hydro...Mom was getting really bad...I called again just before 8:00 PM that night (I was on my way to home depot to buy a $700 dollar generator, cords and gas)...The last so-called supervisor said he'll send someone that night for sure...Anyway, 9:00 pm a big BC Hydro boom truck shows up, the guy gets out, I ask him if he has a new smart meter, he did...He said he had to wait for a partner to show up, he did minutes later, another big boom truck...These weren't smart meter replacers these were after hours linemen...Why they sent two is beyond me...They came down the path, 2 minutes later the meter was replaced and power returned..
However....BC Hydro was prepared to blow me off until the next day, they didn't even inform me that no one was coming out that August 24th day...
And more...My mom has been at her Burnaby address for over 40 years..She's always paid her bill...To cut someone's power off for $148.00???? When BC Hydro knows there's a 30% chance they can't turn the smart meter back on..They cut the power off at 12 noon..and they didn't even try to start it up until 3:03 pm, even though I made arrangements to get them this money before 1:00 pm that day...And BC Hydro knows that the people they have (in little cars) that replace their fucking over-priced junk smart meters quit at 4:00pm...That almost guarantees the people BC Hydro bludgeons with their smart meters are without power until the following day...How many people has BC Hydro killed, how many cut-off during the heat-dome we had?
What we have here folks is BC Hydro using smart meters as a weapon...BC Hydro drowning in debt from the purchase of smart meters, Gordon Campbell's highway(ratepayer robbery)robbery on run of river 30/40/50/60 years contracts at well above $100 dollars per megawatt hour and of course the $18 billion and counting Site C dam boondoggle..
BC Hydro is drowning in debt..And this is what the BC Liberals did to them, and now Horgan too by proceeding with Site C...Won't be long before BC Hydro will need a bailout, or sold to the private sector..
I filed claim against BC Hydro for emotional and physical damages...
9 days after this event a woman from BC Hydro called me to tell me that the $300 dollars I sent to the defunct account(by my error) on June 29th will be applied to the upcoming bill due on September 15th
Read that last paragraph again......So, what we have here is...Mom did NOT have $148.22 overdue balance..Mom actually had a $152.88 credit towards that September 15th bill?????BC Hydro had the money in their account..and yes, I fucked up, but come on..You cut-off power from a 40 plus year account-holder for $148.00 balance...
That brings me to today, September 10/2021...
A BC Hydro supervisor phoned me today and told me my claim for damages has been denied, that BC Hydro can cut power off to any account for as little as $30 dollars owing...I said are you for fucking real..I then told this fucking liar from BC Hydro that mom actually had overpaid and actually had a credit of $152.00 dollars...Although it was sent mistakenly to a defunct hydro account...
Then what happened was absolutely disgusting, this mouth-clown at BC Hydro made up a lie on the fly out of whole clothe..he said and I quote
"Oh no, that $300 dollars was applied to the last bill, you were cutoff for owing $448.00"
I called him out on his bullshit, told him that a BC Hydro staffer called me last week, 9 days after this event that my mom's upcoming bill has been credited the $300 dollars I sent to mom's defunct account..
He argued with me....I called him a fucking godamn liar and to be prepared for this story, the one i'm writing here...and I can prove you are a fucking liar..
I hung up on the BC Hydro lying conman flunkie..
What did I do next?
I called BC Hydro..asked for all mom's account information, I was told(today by a regular frontline BC Hydro phone person that)....The upcoming, due on September 15th bill is $127.27...and that $300 dollars had been applied to it, without that $300 dollar credit the bill would have been $427.27....And to be clear..When the power was restored at 9:00 pm August 24th I went online and sent them the $148.22 amount they wanted(I was still unaware of the payment mistake I made)..That's why mom's account was not credited $152.88 but $300 dollars...And that $300 dollar credit towards the next bill was made by BC Hydro on September 2/2021...9 days after the power was cut on August 24th...
Was that clear enough...When this BC Hydro manager/supervisor who called me today, he was not aware that mom was not overdue...When I mentioned it to him he scrambled, he made up a lie out of whole cloth....BC Hydro didn't find that $300 dollars until September 2....mom's BC Hydro bill is roughly $500 to $600 dollars every 2 months...So how the fuck does mom have a $127.27 bill coming due September 15th/2021 when air conditioner was on, all her medical equipment on..
How the fuck, as that BC Hydro liar told me today that mom was really cut-off for owing $448.22 and they applied the $300 dollars to bring it down to the $148.22.....When BC Hydro phoned me on September 2nd 2021 and told they found this $300 dollars and are applying to the upcoming bill due on September 15th
Caught BC Hydro's asshat supervisor making up a fucking lie.. His lie came about when I informed him of the June 29th $300 dollars sent to the defunct account(in mom's name)...He sputtered and squeaked and made up the lie to somehow justify BC Hydro using smart meter to bludgeon my mom's power..
I then told the BC Hydro asshat that this story is going public..
A little more...When I told this BC Hydro asshat today that i'm going public with my story, going to Bruce Ralston, calling Horgan, Palmer, Mackin and others and you will regret blowing me off, denying my claim of damages and lying your face off...... he said to me...and I quote
"Oh, so you won't mind if the media contacts us that we tell our side of the story"...
I laughed and told this motherfycker, do you think the public will have sympathy for BC Hydro..
A little more, there's a bigger story behind the scenes that BC Hydro doesn't want the public to know..
The Smart meters are defective, tens of thousands of defective smart meters need replacing every year and that they know there's a 30% chance these meters once they turn them off remotely they can't be turned back on...In other words..BC Hydro has fucked many a customer, ..BC hydro is drowning in debt, BC Hydro cannot turn off people's meter when they know they can't get power restored that same day..
My mom, she's been in her Burnaby home for over 40 years..The bill has always been paid...Where is any respect, where is BC Hydro's humanity...
They have none, and now they have paid liars to try and tamp down BC Hydro horror stories..
This article is going to be sent to all the BC Hydro brass..All the big media, John Horgan, Bruce Ralston, Bob Mackin, Vaughn Palmer...
How many other BC Hydro customers have they done this to, how bad is the smart meter boondoggle, who's paying for all the defective smart meters..are they under warranty...
More to come...
The Straight Goods
Cheers-Eyes Wide Open