Kindness And Compassion Outweigh Discomfort And Disorientation: An ER Story

As human beings, we long for knowledge and orientation. We can easily default to discomfort or even fear if we feel unaware of our surroundings or the present situation. From knowing what to expect in any given day to easily navigating a new space or scenario, it’s common to underestimate just how much we require orientation in order to feel comfortable and safe. The past year has left very little room to be forward-looking or to even fully understand our state of being at any given moment. Therefore, feeling well supported and being treated with compassion has become more meaningful than ever.  

John Gilchrist and his wife Catherine Caldwell spent some time at the Canmore General Hospital on a late night in September of 2020. The two live in Calgary, though they inherited a home in Canmore from Catherine’s late parents about five years ago. They’ve always loved this town. The two are both writers, you’ve likely seen their work in Avenue Magazine or the Calgary Herald. Or, you may recognize John’s name as he was the restaurant critic at CBC Radio for 38 years.  

John and Catherine while vacationing in France.

What you may not know, is that John has suffered “a couple dozen” kidney stone attacks. Though, he hadn’t had a kidney stone for 7 years leading up to this September evening. He began feeling lower back pain in the late afternoon. A familiar feeling, he said. “At about 9:30 or 10 p.m., it started to become increasingly painful and that’s when I came to the realization that it was a kidney stone.” 

This is when Catherine took him to the hospital. “I was met with a very pleasant security guard who gave me a quick rundown on how to enter during COVID. He gave me a new mask and hand sanitizer, asked a couple of questions, and showed me back to the area where I was met by a very nice lady, a nurse I think, who took my information.” 

John and Katherine hiking in France.

Catherine had dropped John off at the door and gone to get a parking spot. As a result, she was a couple of minutes behind her husband. “I’m more of a nervous Nelly about this COVID thing than John is, so the last place I wanted to be was an emergency department,” she told us. “When I walked in and was greeted by the security guard and handed a new mask with tongs it lowered my anxiety pretty quickly. That was a nice touch,” she laughed. 

John’s nurse, Cassidy Wyntjes, then came out and introduced himself before taking some more information from the couple. John described Cassidy as “the kind of nurse that makes you feel very comfortable because you know that he knows what he’s doing. It made the whole situation a little less difficult.” Catherine and John said that Cassidy described in depth everything that he would be doing, ensuring they understood without overloading them with medical jargon. “Meanwhile, I’m in a pretty good deal of pain. On the scale of 1-10 I’m at about a 7 on the way to an 8,” said John. Cassidy made sure they got into a room and were administered medications right away. The nurse told them their doctor would be right in and popped over to the next bed to stitch up someone else who had an accident.   

We spoke to Cassidy who said that a big part of his practice as a healthcare professional is “going out of my way to make sure people understand.” Cassidy worked at the Canmore Hospital as an undergrad and grad nurse as well as a Registered Nurse. He’s spent nearly the last decade at the Alberta Children’s Hospital but has recently returned to the Canmore Hospital where he will be picking up a full-time position in Emergency this winter.  

He says that the Canmore Hospital is special for a number of reasons, one of which being that “there’s a ton of experience from everywhere. A lot of our physicians have worked at Emerge in big cities; some have worked rural in other areas.”  

“It’s a pretty diverse group of people with an array of experience. We’re pretty lucky,” he continued. Cassidy remembered John and Catherine, just as they had remembered him.  

After John had been looked after by the nurse and his pain-level was beginning to lower, Dr. Mark Hawkins, who John knows, stopped by his room as he had heard John was in the ER. He asked how he was doing “quite a Canmore thing,” said John, and told the couple they were in great hands.  

Soon, John’s doctor came by, Dr. Kyle McLaughlin, a specialist in emergency and sports medicine, “your perfect Canmore match,” John joked. “He’s the kind of professional that just makes you comfortable.” 

Catherine told us that Dr. McLaughlin was “just so pleasant. I just couldn’t believe how lovely he was, and articulate in what he was telling us.”  

By that point, John’s pain level had gone down to what he described as a 1 and after being administered more meds, they were discharged.  

“One of the things that I really liked, and we’ve been to emergency a lot over the years, but I’ve never been in such a comfortable emergency room. They’re just so competent but also so kind and personable, from start to finish, right from the security guard,” Catherine reflected. “That’s the key, we’re humans that they cared about and wanted to help us and get us on our way.”  

John and Catherine at the opening of CBC's new Calgary studio in 2018.

We are in a world of disorientation and discomfort at present. The exuberance with which John and Catherine described the details of their experience at the Canmore General Hospital goes to show how meaningful comfort and compassion can be, now more than ever.  

A contribution to the Canmore Hospital Foundation is a contribution to comfort.