Indigenous woman had body pain for 6 days before collapsing in hospital ER wait room, Ontario inquest told

Nurse said ER ‘was way too busy’ to ‘deal with’ Winterstein, peer worker tells inquest

Cronkwright says nursing staff will often tell peer support navigators what patients’ chief complaints are, but not share their medical records. 

One of the flags that may lead to a referral from a nurse is NFI (no fixed address) notations, he says. 

That, addictions or mental health are also factors that bring in navigators to help patients, he says.

“We are their friend in the ER who understands what they’re going through.”

Inquest lawyer Vivian Sim asks him if he was in contact with Winterstein on Dec. 9, 2021. 

He says he was. 

A nurse contacted him and brought him to triage, where Winterstein was in a wheelchair.

“This nurse did state she [Winterstein] was a heroin addict. She said she wasn’t going to deal with this patient. The ER was way too busy.”

He says he saw Winterstein post-discharge rather than post-triage as was the usual way. He was supposed to take her to the bus stop.