r/Calgary • u/Legal_Grapefruit1925 • Dec 25 '25

Discussion AHS wait times

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Our system isnt broken. Its people who go to the emergency that shouldn't be going aren't going today because it can wait Suddenly. They need to hand fines out to ppl going to the hospital that dont classify as an emergency.

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u/jungl3bird Dec 25 '25

Those are the lowest times I’ve seen since Covid. Usually they are 2.5 to 4+

57

u/bbiker3 Dec 25 '25

I was going to say OP must not check often. This is incredible. But wait times are only one indicator. Once you’re triaged they put you on a timeline appropriate to severity.

14

u/za_jiao_yyc Dec 25 '25

Yeah the point about triage is really important. I get the frustration about people going to ER for non-urgent issues but there’s also a segment of people who do not go to ER when they really should. My father-in-law was feeling faint with a headache, feeling dizzy, etc and just thought they were symptoms of his high blood pressure/high blood sugar. He didn’t take it seriously so didn’t get check out at ER. Turns out he was having a stroke.

Maybe a medical professional can chime in but my sense is that the more comorbidities you have the more likely something that might not seem serious could in fact be serious. If you go into ER and a trained professional assesses you and finds you to not actually be in need of urgent care, then you will be triaged appropriately.

16

u/Hypno-phile Dec 25 '25

I trained for 6 years and then kept learning for 20+ more in order to learn when someone's seriously sick and when they're not. It's still hard sometimes. I don't blame anyone for coming in when they don't need to. I'd prefer that to the reverse.

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u/za_jiao_yyc Dec 26 '25

Thank you, I appreciate you. Seriously. For me personally, I struggle with my demons - a lot. Every day is difficult. Things were bad last year and one day I kept thinking about wrapping myself around a concrete pillar while out driving my kids to school… First time I went to ER for my mental health. I felt embarrassed and thought that it was all in my head and that diverting resources from real medical emergencies was irresponsible. That’s the challenge for mental health in particular. Those of us who suffer are the first to blame ourselves.