North Island Hospital Comox Valley - Courtenay, British Columbia

Mark B.

I visited Comox Valley hospital’s emergency ward today in great distress. I was suffering from unbearable pain due to a medical condition that I’ve had for several years but that only flares up occasionally.

I was a pathetic-looking, moaning mess when I limped in to Emergency, which was fairly busy but not completely overwhelmed at the time. Admitting staff took me in quickly and I only had to wait (with about a dozen other admitted patients) for about 10 minutes before a nurse attended to me and started my treatment. I promptly received pain medication (4 times), blood tests, 2 scans and saw multiple nurses, technicians, doctors and orderlies over a period of a few hours.

Staff were consistently very good to excellent with me, in spite of being quite busy. It was easily the most involved and best care I have received in a single hospital visit, including: sympathy for my condition; lots of good questions and answers; good coordination between staff and specialists; reasonably-attentive treatment (considering it was a busy place) ; some smiles and some humour; and repeated visits from the doctor who took the time to read my background information and discuss it with me.

These people work hard and they care. I couldn’t thank them enough. I don’t expect every hospital visit to go this well, but they certainly did a great job in my case. Well done CVH!

Ganna D.

Had to bring a 5 months old with viral infection for a pediatric assessment and an x-ray and was very pleased with the service and amenities. From triage to all doctors, nurses and technicians, everyone was very patient and courteous. Wait times were reasonable, and there are change tables in every washroom.

Rachel R.

Sincerely grateful for everyone at the hospital who were there in September when I had to go to emergency and surgery. Everyone from the volunteers to the nurses, lab technicians, porters and doctors displayed competence and professionalism - everyone knew what they were doing. They acknowledged the pain I was having, made sure I was comfortable and treated me like I was one of their own. It does take a village not just to raise a child but to care for each other. Thank you from the bottom of my forever grateful heart.

Bryon Z.

Went in for my cancer surgery , the room I had was right by the doors so I got to hear doors slamming all night. Across the hall was the nursing station that was non stop talking and noise . The room was very hot at all times . Tv didn’t work no service guy ever show up and look at it . And the hospital beds are extremely uncomfortable very hard no foam left like sleeping in steel bars . The good or what they call good is not fit for human consumption . A week of pure hell .

Gurinderdeep S.

A big disappointment. We waited 7 hours to see a doctor but no, there was no one who could look after the patients. There were only 5 people ahead of us from which 2 left and still they couldn’t let us see a doctor and behaviour of nurses is so careless. I believe last thing they care about is the patient. When i asked about why is there long wait for only 4 people the reply i got was “ this is how it goes, you have to wait” we waited from 6:30pm to 1:30am without getting any kind of treatment.

Brianne A.

I am traumatized after my most recent experience going into the ER. This is the third time I have had a horrendous experience yet the first time Im speaking up about it.
I am at the point where I am now fearful of future medical emergences as my trust in our care providers here is now at 0.

I came into Emergency at about 5:00 January 29th, 2025.
I was barely coherent and on the verge of blacking out after having been violently vomiting at home since 2am.

I went through the intake desk quickly and moved into the secondary waiting room which was luckily empty. Even better- there were only two or three patients in the main treatment room. I had never seen the place so void of people

I was in serious pain, severely dehydrated, dry heaving uncontrollably. I collapsed onto the floor in fetal position in the waiting room, loudly painfully dry heaving every 10-20min.

Some time and many bouts of loud dry heaving later a male nurse asked to take my blood. I begged to please do something about the vomiting first but he just stood silently looking annoyed by my lack of swift motion and he promptly left without a word. Some time later reappearing he took me to a different hallway and sat me in a chair, at which time more rounds of painful dryheaving took place. This was a major inconvenience to this man who was annoyed that his task was being hindered by how sick I was and made no attempt to hide his displeasure. He left impatiently again without saying a word or taking my blood at which point I once again collapsed onto the floor.

The only substance left to expel from my body was neon yellow bile, emptying painfully into the bowl every few minutes and not a single person came to my aid. I was not quiet about it. The whole ordeal echoed through the ward. A nurse did a lap past me tossed two pills in my direction, instructed me to let them dissolve under my tongue before walking off as quickly as she had appeared.
I vomited the pills up of course. I was asked to move from my place on the floor and begged for somewhere to lay down and was told there was nowhere for me to go, despite what looked to me like a mostly empty ER ward. So on the floor I stayed.

In desperation I told husband to find someone and tell them I need IV fluids and anti nausea meds urgently. There were more security guards than medical staff.
The man eventually came back to take my blood followed by the female nurse who endeavoured to put in an IV port but was unable due to violent dryheaving. Finally another nurse came to join her and offered me her arm (the first offer of any support what so ever) and took me into the main treatment room where I finaly given a seat that reclines to sit in.
There were three other patients in there all of which at the time seemed stable and sleeping. Many empty chairs.
3 different nurses attempted to put the IV port in. One said: “I am not even supposed to be working on this floor right now but here I am”. Terribly inappropriate bedside conversation that made me feel less than human. The lack of compassionate care was staggering!

I went from being ignored in agony on the floor for 2 hours and eventually treated by people who were very annoyed there was a sick person to tend to. It took substantial time to get them to take my condition seriously.

At 7am there seems to be a shift change and care improved somewhat at this point. Someone came around and did an ECG, asked me some questions to assess what was going on. At no point prior to this did anyone try to ask me anything to try to diagnose my condition.

Are medical staff so overworked that the quality of care has degraded to this sort of low point? Did the staff think I was just throwing up because I had drank or used to much? What were these 'PROFESSIONALS" thinking?

If I was an elderly patient in this condition I could have been in even serious distress or even died on the hospital floor while staff members ignored the scene. I am in shock at the rude dismissive incompetent treatment I received. Something is VERY wrong here.

Phillip

I visited the ER around 5PM, I waited in the waiting room for about an hour and a half, I got called in just to be put in ANOTHER waiting room. I was there for another 45 minutes, then finally got to my cubicle/chair whatever you wanna call it. As I was waiting there, after who knows how long, 2 nurses sat across the room at a computer, just gossiping about how they can’t wait to get off and they only do their job for the money. Scary as they’re trusted with our lives. I couldn’t leave until about 1AM And all they did was prescribe me meds and send me on my way.

Katlin A.

My dad visited the Comox Valley Hospital and wanted to give Dr Stephen Jones his thank you for the excellent service he received in care:

I would like to thank Dr Stephen Jones for the professional help he gave me in the early morning on Remembrance Day in Comox Valley Hospital Emergency Department.

He evaluated step by step all the possible causes of blood leakage in my body and performed all the tests quickly and professionally with great empathy. He gave me confidence to move forward with this! Thank you to the Comox Valley Hospital Emergency Department. We, as residents of the beautiful Comox Valley, are lucky to have brand new top of the line hospital here for everyone to enjoy!

Andrus Aarma