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Opinion: Burnaby senior has ‘traumatic experience’ with lab’s stricter COVID-19 protocols

Protocols to deal with COVID-19 are changing with everything from travel to your local lab. Don’t just assume your elderly parent can simply adjust to this new era without support.
The announcement meant four new COVID-19 cases were identified in British Columbia Tuesday

Protocols to deal with COVID-19 are changing with everything from travel to your local lab.

Don’t just assume your elderly parent can simply adjust to this new era without support.

That’s the message I received from a Burnaby woman who just wanted to be known as Phyllis L.

She said her mother had a “traumatic experience” at a lab in Burnaby last week.

“Thankfully, it was resolved, however, I recommend that all seniors should be aware of it,” said Phyllis, who detailed how her Chinese mother struggled with new questions asked by the lab during blood testing requested by her family doctor.

With the COVID-19 spreading on a scary scale, procedures at labs have changed.

This lab asked these questions:

  • Are you sick at the moment?
  • Have you travelled to the countries on this list (updated countries with COVOID 19 cases)?
  • Have you had any contacts with anyone who is a probable case of COVID 19?

“Normally, my mother has no trouble answering to simple questions like her name or birthdate or whether she had had breakfast that morning,” Phyllis said. “Unfortunately, my mother was not able to understand those questions and answer them in English. She was skipped and possibly bumped to the end of the queue. Later, she was given something to read in Chinese, but by then she felt anxious and embarrassed as she could not reply in English.”

Phyllis said her goal is not to criticize the lab in question, but to remind seniors and family members, especially those where English is a second language, that things have changed and people need to be prepared. 

“I believed the staff were trying to wait for a patient or a staff who might come in later that could translate, but my mother was traumatized not understanding why she was not assisted,” said Phyllis, who added that the lab staff followed up with her to go over what happened.

This is an important message as we all try and adjust to COVID-19.   

“Last but not least, I just want to say, immigrants like my Chinese mom have tried their very best to submerge into a new culture and to learn the language,” she said. “My mother is 84 - she now manages to run her life independently. So, being able to go to a lab to do a regular blood test is quite an achievement for her. Though this experience was far from pleasant for my mother, I must say, I benefited from learning about the new procedures – many seniors do these tests a few times a month plus there are quite a large population of Asian immigrants in Burnaby. I truly hope others would not experience like what my mom did.”

Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.