Strathcona Community Hospital: Emergency Room - Sherwood Park, Alberta

D D.

The staff was friendly other than maybe being short staffed or unable to do their jobs, the system is severely lacking. Went in at 1:30 am, told it would be a while because there were 6 people in front. 6 people is apparently a long wait line for a community of 100,000+ people? Sat in waiting room for 3 hours. Moved to a bed and waited until 9am to see a doctor. Makes me wonder if they even have a doctor at night. If you’re going to make people wait that amount of time, at least give some chairs they can stretch out on semi comfortably unless the goal is to make people not want to come. Was finally getting fed up with waiting and wanted to just leave, but needed someone to remove the tubing from the IV injection point. Nobody wants to make eye contact, suspect they could tell I was fed up, too busy on their computers or scurrying around to ask if you needed some help. Next time I need to go, I won’t unless I’m unquestionably dealing with potential death. Sooooo much room for improvement.

Sasha K.

I want to express my sincerest gratitude to the entire medical team that cared for me on June 3. What started as a scary experience was made so much better thanks to the expertise, professionalism, and kindness shown by the nurses and doctors. I feel incredibly fortunate and thankful for the level of care I received.

The day I arrived to the emergency department there was a long queue of patients and the laboratory was non-functioning, causing delays. I feel that the team did a good job prioritizing and managing the emergency room. I waited for 3.5 hrs as a low-acuity patient, but when my signs and symptoms worsened, they recognized it and brought me back swiftly.

Amelia J.

I have a condition of some kind that causes pain in my pelvic region. It’s been there 8 months however been incredibly bad the last 48 hours. After trying to push through for a day I had a flare up that caused me to feel like I was gonna pass out from pain. The pain was worse than having my hand cooked on a stove (something I’ve actually experienced). I called 811 and was told to go to an er. I understand I may not have looked that bad and was fine with waiting 4 and a bit hours in the waiting room. While being triaged I was asked if I might be pregnant and I said no as I was currently menstruating. I also insured the triage nurse included in my file I have very significant trauma and I don’t know if it is related to the pain I’m in. Once I was brought back, I was told to undress and change into a hospital gown. I said I wanted to chat with the doctor to know what he was going to do before undressing. I was told the doctor was too busy to come in and take a medical history if I wasn’t gonna wear the gown. I then changed into it not to cause problems. Next I had a nurse come in and tell me to lie down. I had to stop her and ask what she was gonna do. She was just taking my vitals but it isn’t hard to say “I’m gonna take your vitals, lay down”. Informed consent! Then the doctor comes in and speaks to my partner saying my partner should be relived, im not pregnant. They ran a test anyway and shared the results in an unprofessional and very insensitive way. I was asked about relevant medical history and while I was in the middle of saying strong family history of pcos and endometriosis I was cut off by the doctor and he said “no, your history”. The doctor then tells me to lay down and again, I had to ask what he was going to do. Informed consent!!! He pushed down on my stomach, listened to my breathing and said I was ok and this wasn’t an er emergency. I asked if I would be ok to go to work and if I should stop with the pain. I was told as long as I wasn’t tight rope walking I’d be fine. Gave me Advil and Tylenol and said he would give me something so I could work the next day. After looking at it this morning I was given an morphinan opioid. I have a history of addictive behaviour with pills. I have to let my partner hold onto them and give them to me at the assigned time to keep myself safe. Nobody said a word about it… I can’t safely work or drive on that med. at least they said I could have an ultrasound 36 hours later.

Roksolana P.

I took my partner to Strathcona Community Hospital for severe abdominal pain, and we were impressed by how fast the staff acted—he was admitted right away, and all the necessary tests were done promptly. The nurses and doctors were compassionate and efficient, and we’re truly grateful for their care, especially given how unbearable the pain was.

However, one thing we didn’t realize is that this facility is more of an emergency room rather than a full hospital—they don’t perform surgeries on-site. Instead, they coordinate with another hospital for transfers, which is where we experienced the longest wait time.

If you need emergency care, this is a great place to go, but if you already know you’ll require surgery, it might be more efficient to go directly to a hospital that offers surgical procedures. Overall, we had a positive experience with the care provided here!

David M.

I checked the Alberta emergency rooms wait time page and saw there was only a 30 min wait. I drove from south Edmonton and was seen right away. The care was excellent and worth the drive as most ERs were 4 to 7 hour waits. The doctors and nurses were fantastic.

D C.

I am seen in a timely manner. Triage and ER nurses were top-notch. Only took an hour to see the doc who sewed me up.
Good experience - well, except for the registration clerk, she needs to work on her rude attitude.

Ravi R.

Worst experience!! Made us wait from 3:30pm till next morning 4:00am still no sign of the doctor. Ask the nurse 3 times only answer in there defence was ooh unfortunately there is no doctor at the moment . And only most waited person was my dad on there list . Is it because he was on a tourist visa to visit Canada and was not having his Alberta health card . I believe my insurance was enough to cover up the hospital bills but making us wait feels like that you guys are charging me every hour I was there to wait for a doctor. End of the day my dad just had enough of there bullshit and walked out from there . Worst pathetic service ever. Now the best part is I will get a bill which I feel I will be forced to pay anyhow even the doctor didn’t even visit my dad . GREAT hoping no one else goes through the experience I have been through.

Thirst E.

Terrible, TERRIBLE place! I used to really like this hospital until my last experience where they literally KILLED ME not once, but TWICE! I went in cause I thought I was dying the pain was so brutal, (found out days later when I was rushed to the Royal Alex that it was gallstones and needed emergency surgery) I went in literally screaming in excruciating pain and without weighing me or checking my height, they brought me into a room and started my IV then proceeded to give me an undisclosed amount of Dilaudid to which within five minutes I “code blued”. They did this TWICE!! Then sent me home after hours of this, with no results or explanation of what was wrong only for me to get raced to Royal Alex 2 days later.

This is a terrible place to go! I wouldnt recommend it to ANYONE!!