Cancer patient forced to stay in storage closet at Southern Alberta hospital

A woman being treated for cancer is speaking out after she was forced to stay in a storage closet overnight during a recent visit to a Southern Alberta hospital.

Rose Roll tells CityNews she was admitted to Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge on Jan. 19 to start new cancer treatment where she needed to be monitored in case of a reaction.

On Jan. 24, the Taber resident says staff promptly moved her into a storage room on the fourth floor of the hospital, telling her they needed the room she was in for a “very sick patient.”

Roll says she was in the messy windowless room without a bathroom or a sink for over 24 hours.

The square room with no storage area, consisted of only a bed, a small dresser, and a shelving unit loaded with bins and medical apparatuses, according to Roll. She says it was less than prison standards.

“Inmates, they get toilets and a sink,” she says. “They get an area that is clean and safe for breathing and what not.

“The room I was in had no running water of any sort.”

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Roll recalls the moment cleaning staff burst into the room unannounced.

“My door was closed, and the door flings open and a light goes on and there are two employees in there digging in for stuff,” she says. “I just felt violated.”

When Roll asked if she could go home instead of stay in the room, she says was told by staff that it wouldn’t be safe and she needed monitoring.

Roll says the closest bathroom was across the hall in a different room that was occupied by two male patients. She was reluctant to use it because of an ongoing COVID outbreak on that floor of the hospital.

Alberta Health Services (AHS) say they have since removed the shelving unit and tidied up the room “to enhance comfort and privacy,” but it is still being used for patients.

The province says the storage room was “reconfigured” into an over-capacity space and they ensure patients staying in the room get the same level of care as patients in regular rooms.

“Chinook Regional Hospital is currently experiencing high patient demand and the unit in which this patient was being cared for is under a respiratory outbreak,” reads a statement from AHS. “We apologize to this patient for their experience.”

“Over-capacity spaces are commonly utilized during periods of high demand to maintain patient care standards.”

AHS also confirmed the unit in which Roll was being cared for was under a respiratory outbreak. 

They need to come up with a solution,” says Roll.  “My other question is, I’m in this storage room and the beds are full, what happens to the next person that comes in there?”

“Is there another storage room? because the ER doesn’t quit just because the hospital gets full.”