Parents frustrated after nearly eight hour wait in ER while their infant struggled to breathe
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - A family is sharing their story of frustration with KRDO13 in hopes of making a change in the triage process or response for struggling children at the Children's Hospital. The Fickas family detailed their account of a recent experience in the emergency room wait room that they believe hurt their daughter far more than it helped.
Camille is 16 months old. Her mother, Sarah Fickas, says Camille, or Millie, was just recently diagnosed with sleep apnea after a sleep study.
"So she had her oxygen prescribed for over a year and then got off in February, like mid-February, when her results came back," said Sarah Fickas.
First ER visit
On March 6, Fickas took Camille to the ER after she said she had been vomiting.
"I just want to make sure she's not dehydrated or anything. So we brought her in on Friday, and we waited for however long. She wasn't bad at all that day. I was just wanting to check on her. So I wasn't worried about waiting. When we went to a room, they were giving her a bag of fluids, and she fell asleep. And on their monitor, she was sitting around, like, 87 to 89. And they want kids, like, above 89, to be off oxygen. So they sent her home with a sleep oxygen order. So we came back home with oxygen again," explained Fickas.
A sudden drop in oxygen levels
This is why she says that on March 7, they put Camille's pulse oximeter, better known as a pulse ox, on her to monitor her blood oxygen saturation.
"About five minutes into her having the monitor on, the monitor red alerted, which is when it dips below 80 because they should still be on oxygen like 80 to 89, but it doesn't red alert, you're just supposed to like be monitoring periodically at that point. But when it goes into red alerts, that's like a medical emergency. So she red-alerted awake at 78, which has never happened because she's only ever needed oxygen at night," said Fickas.
She says she turned off the alarm, but it went off again within minutes as Camille's oxygen levels dropped to 75. They say they called the Children's Hospital triage and were directed to call 911.
An ambulance arrived, and paramedics turned Camille's oxygen up to a whole liter, four times what she was prescribed, said Fickas. However, due to cost concerns, Fickas said they declined an ambulance and drove Camille to the ER.
Second ER visit
"We got to children's at 11:00. Exactly. And when I checked her in, I told them what happened, they triaged her while she was on oxygen, back to a quarter liter. We turned her down to her baseline so they could triage her. They gave her a hospital pulse ox. And we went to sit down in the waiting area, and it was packed. All the chairs were filled up. Most kids were, like, throwing up or having a cough. Similar to what it sounded like when she was coughing. She [Camille] was one of the littlest ones there," recounted Fickas.
When they sat down, Fickas says Camille's oxygen levels plummeted.
"She was immediately in the low 80s, and she was horribly retracting, like, working so hard, harder than I've ever seen her work to breathe," said Fickas.
Fickas ran back up to the front to tell hospital staff. She says they came out and bumped Camille's oxygen up to half a liter, but Camille was still retracting.
"So I went and got them again, and somebody came and turned her up to a whole liter and then told me that that's the highest they were willing to turn her up to in the waiting room," Fickas said.
Fickas said even at the full liter of oxygen, Camille's chest was still retracting as she worked to breathe. Fickas tells KRDO13 she understands people need to be seen in order of urgency based on their condition. Despite this, Fickas said she felt that her daughter's condition was life-threatening.
"I had like five or six parents that were there that same night reach out to me saying they were watching her and they like, couldn't believe that they weren't seeing her [Camille] helping her," said Fickas.
Repeated pleas for help
Fickas said she repeatedly went to the front and pleaded to hospital staff, saying that her daughter is struggling, asking if she could be seen. Camille's mother said they kept saying it's based on who has the worst symptoms and that they don't get to choose up front.
Fickas said she started to feel guilt for not taking her daughter to the ambulance. She says when she asked hospital staff, they said even if you brought her in the ambulance, you'd still have the same wait.
Finally seen after nearly eight hours
Fickas tells KRDO13 that after seven hours and fifty minutes, her daughter was taken back to be seen. She says the doctors were apologetic, telling her that Camille should never have waited this long in her condition.
"At that point, the doctor came in, and I'm not kidding. He looked at her for one second. He turned her from one liter to three liters and admitted her immediately, and ordered a chest X-ray, where we found out her right lung was partially collapsed and there was a lot of junk in both of her lungs. About 30 minutes after the X-ray, we were back in the room, and they started her on high flow oxygen therapy at ten liters in the waiting room," said Fickas.
Camille's mom says she was shocked that the medical professionals had to bump up Camille's oxygen to ten liters to maintain her breathing. She said Camille was working so hard, but once she reached 10 liters, she started to look more comfortable.
"Well, about an hour into that, she started working hard again, and they turned her up to a 12," recounted Fickas.
Fickas says after two hours, they weaned Camille back down to 10 liters.
From waiting room to possible ICU
"They told us if she couldn't maintain a 10 for two hours, we had to admit her to the PICU, the pediatric ICU, instead of the normal hospital room that they had assigned to her when she got admitted," recounted Fickas, "I want to know how we went from my daughter being told she's fine over and over again in the waiting room to a possible ICU admissions within hours."
She says that made it even more frustrating to hear from the doctors how serious her daughter's condition was.
"I genuinely believe they're responsible for her lung collapsing because of how long they made her sit there, retracting, working. Honestly, it just makes me so upset. I feel like they caused so much more damage than help," said Fickas.
Hospital response
We brought all of their concerns to the Children's Hospital multiple times and received this response:
Children’s Hospital Colorado is still in the middle of respiratory season and experiencing longer wait times than normal. Our triage process is to care for every patient and their family based on their individual and unique needs and get the sickest kids in as quickly as possible. Children’s Hospital Colorado recognizes the importance of having specialized pediatric guidance available to parents and families, and we strive to see all patients in a timely manner. While wait times can vary during respiratory season, our teams always work diligently to evaluate the urgency of every patient in need. The Children’s Hospital Colorado Patient Relations team is available to address families’ needs and experiences while in our care.
- Children's Hospital Colorado
Although not for pediatrics specifically, UCHealth confirmed to KRDO13 that it is also experiencing longer wait times due to the respiratory season. CommonSpirit is working on a response. This article will be updated with what we hear back.
UCHealth is committed to providing the best care to every patient we serve.
Currently, our hospitals in southern Colorado are seeing an increase in emergency department visits due to seasonal respiratory infections. Wait times vary depending on the severity of injury or illness of each patient along with how many patients are waiting to be seen.
In addition to emergency departments, UCHealth has several in-person urgent care locations throughout the Pikes Peak region, along with virtual urgent care available in Pueblo and across the state. Patients can schedule same-day urgent care and virtual urgent care appointments through the UCHealth app.
More information about virtual urgent care can be found here: Anyone in Colorado can access Virtual Urgent Care - UCHealth Today
- A UCHealth spokesperson
A call for change
Despite this, Fickas' frustrations continue.
"How do you have a one-year-old girl sitting in the waiting room for eight hours and then admit her immediately with respiratory failure?" Camille's mom wondered.
Fickas says she understands the wait when your child does not need to be taken back immediately.
"We've been there, and we've waited a long time, and, like, I've known that it's okay to wait a long time because I'm like, okay, my kid, there's obviously worse kids in here than my kids right now. But then, like times, like this, I'm like, okay, she needs to be seen, like, right now," said Fickas.
She says by sharing this, she hopes there can be changes in triage to get patients in sooner. Fickas tells KRDO13 she feels as though had a doctor looked at her daughter, they would have immediately brought her daughter back.
After a few days in the hospital, Camille was sent home. She is still recovering from her partially collapsed lung and using oxygen at night, said Fickas.
The Fickas family has filed a grievance with the Children's Hospital through patient advocates. While they haven't decided anything yet, the Fickas family is also exploring their legal options.
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