Don't avoid emergency care in pandemic, says Manitoba MLA after health problem left her 'scared to go to bed'

Withher hometown "under siege" fromCOVID-19, Manitoba MLA Eileen Clarke admits she wasn't thinking ofher ownhealth.

She was worrying for her mother, battling COVID-19 in a personal care home in Gladstone that's confrontingan outbreak. She was thinking ofher husband, a funeral home director, and thosehe'slaid to rest from this disease.

It pushed Clarke last monthto dismissher own health scare ona day in whichshe felt lightheaded, nearlylosing consciousnessmultiple times.

The elected official only acted when she was running out of time, even thoughmedical professionals have repeatedly said people who need medical care unrelated to the pandemic shouldn't wait.

"I was scared to go to bed and close my eyes," Clarkeremembered."I thought that I may not reopen them."

'Sometimes we neglect ourselves,' MLA says

TheAgassizMLA and former Minister of Indigenous and Municipal Relations is speaking out because she doesn't want fears ofCOVID-19 to preventother Manitobansfrom receiving themedical care they need.

"I've spent the past 20 months, like my colleagues and all our health-care givers, looking after the people ofManitoba and making every effort to make sure everyone is well taken care of," Clarke, 67, said.

"I guess in that, sometimeswe neglect ourselves."

This summer, the MLA made headlineswhen she resigned from the Progressive Conservative cabinet, sayingcomments fromformer premier Brian Pallister that suggestedthe colonization of Canada was done with good intentionsplayed a role in her decision.Pallister resigned a few months later.

On the morning of Nov. 9, Clarke's focus was thepersonal care home in Gladstone, which was coping with a COVID-19 outbreak. Several residents,including her fully-vaccinatedmother, gotinfected.

She didn't wantThird Crossing Manor care home to become a repeat of Maples,the Winnipeg residence in which 56 people died from an outbreak last year.

The latest COVID flare-upwas stressing her out, Clarke said. That morning, she was speaking with Health Minister Audrey Gordon and Southern Health officials to ask for staffing help at the home.

When she got off the phone, "I had an instance where I pretty much passed out and I thought, 'Well, that's a big load of stress,'" Clarke said.

She took it easy for a while. She later went to the garage for Christmas decorations, bent over and lost her balance, possibly losing consciousness.

Clarke recalls her mind feeling fuzzy, usually when she was getting up to stand or walk. It only lasted a few seconds at a time, so Clarke didn't grasp itsseriousness.

"I guess the reason I didn't get overly concerned is because I could be up and around and was fine."

Her husband wanted to call 911, but Clarke was hesitant. Sheworried aboutbeing admitted into hospitalswhere COVID-19 was spreading, such asneighbouring facilitiesin Neepawa and Portage la Prairiewith outbreaks.

"I did not want to end up in either of those hospitals."

But some 12 hours later sherealized she couldn't wait any longer when she needed to fall asleep and didn't know if she'd wake up.

Irregular heart rhythm required pacemaker

Paramedics realized she was in desperate need ofa pacemaker because of the irregularrhythm of her heart, so atemporary one was inserted.On the way to St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, her heart rate dropped to just 19 beats a minute, Clarke said.

She's spent a lot of time since thinkingof how precarious her life became.

"Iconsider myself an intelligent human beingensuring that other people are cared for, and to think that I would not care that much about getting help for myself," Clarke said.

"I don't know if I'm disappointed in myself, but it just scares me that it got that far."

Dr. Marc Ruel, president of theCanadian Cardiovascular Society, said Clarke isn't alone in delaying necessarycare.

"This is something that happened many, many times during this pandemic, some variation of this theme," he said.

"The emergency departments may be full,the hospitals may be dealing with an outbreak, but other diseases are not going away far from it."

Cardiac issues are not new for Clarke. She was diagnosed years ago with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT),an abnormallyfast or erratic heart beat. She's received treatment, but knew she'dneed apacemakerat some point.

Perhapsthat should have happened a year ago.

While at St. Boniface,a medical professional said an old ultrasound suggested Clarke may have needed apacemaker back then.Clarke doesn't recall that urgency being relayed to her.

"To think that information was tucked away in a file and I had no idea about it whatsoever, I was walking on thin ice," Clarke said.

Ruel, also the chief of cardiac surgery at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, couldn't speak to Clarke's case specifically, but saidultrasound results can be open to interpretation.

Clarke doesn't hold any ill will aroundher situation. She ravesabout the careshe received and the professionals involved. She was in and out of hospitalin 16 hours.

She said the health-care system is coping as best it canamid a pandemicnobody could have predicted. Every jurisdiction, Manitoba included,will have to adapttheir health-care systememerging from the pandemic, she said, which she's pleased the premier is committed to doing.

Ruel applauded Clarkefor usingher public profile to encourage other individuals to avoiding postponing medical care they need.

Over the pandemic, Clarke has found that sharingpersonal stories of her life on her Facebook pagefrom the triumphs to the struggleshashelpedothers. She describes herhealth scare, which she documented last month, as an example.

In one recent Facebook post, Clarke wrote that herself and her mother are improving after their individual health issues, but the ongoing outbreak at the Gladstone personal care home continues to weighon her.

Such is true of Gladstone's challenges. She was the community's mayoruntil she becameMLA in 2016.

"We'll get through this and life will resume, but with every event such as this, it changes lives, some forever,"Clarke wrote.

Don't avoid emergency care in pandemic

3 years ago

Duration 2:09

Agassiz MLA Eileen Clarke is speaking out tonight saying she delayed the emergency care she needed until it was almost too late. She's encouraging all Manitobans to take a lesson from her experience, even as the threat of COVID-19 remains.

This story was possible in part thanks to Manitobans who filled outCBC'ssurvey on the pronounced effectCOVID-19 is having on Manitoba's health-care system.In it, we asked health-care workers, patients and their loved ones to send us their top concerns and questions about care during the pandemic.