Broken elevator prevents patient from reaching doctor's office at Carney Hospital
DORCHESTER - Ann Wohlhueter was shocked when, she says for the second time in a month, her mother-in-law was unable to get to her doctor's appointment because of a broken elevator.
Wohlhueter's mother-in-law has kidney disease, congestive heart failure, and diabetes, and struggles to walk. She sees a Haitian-Creole primary care physician at the Seton Medical Building at Carney Hospital in Dorchester, because he speaks her primary language, and it makes her comfortable.
However, she was very uncomfortable when she discovered she wouldn't be able to make it to the second-floor appointment as she sat in the wheelchair in a lobby on Monday, October 31.
"Their suggestion was to call the doctor and reschedule," Wohlhueter said.
WBZ confirmed inside the Seton Medical Building, the elevator is out of service and blocked by a yellow barricade. Instead, the hospital has chair lifts to carry patients up the two flights of stairs. However, those lifts still require some walking between floors, something Wohlhueter says her mother is not always capable of, given her condition.
"I mean it was just astounding to me," she explained. "Are we really not providing access to healthcare for people?"
Carney Hospital is situated in Dorchester and serves many patients of color and immigrant patients like Wohlhueter's mother-in-law. She worries this is an equity issue when it comes to healthcare access, and she's frustrated by a lack of answers from the hospital.
WBZ attempted to contact Carney Hospital to find out why the elevators aren't running and when they'll be fixed - via three emails, several phone calls, voicemails, and even an attempted in-person visit, but we were unable to get a reply from any hospital spokesperson.
Wohlhueter ended up bringing her mother to the Emergency Room since she could not walk, where she was admitted to deal with an overload of fluid in her body. While a hospital stay was likely in the elderly woman's future, Wohlhueter explained that she wanted to see her primary care doctor first. "She speaks Haitian Creole as her main language and prefers to have a healthcare provider who also speaks that same language," she explained.
"Due to global supply chain issues, there have been delays in repairing the elevator in the Seton Medical Office Building, located on the grounds of Carney Hospital," Jason Bouffard, a spokesperson for the hospital, told WBZ-TV in an email Friday.
"As a temporary solution, a stair lift has been installed to transport patients to and from upper floors, wheelchairs are available on each floor, and an attendant is on site to assist in transporting patients safely. We remain steadfastly committed to maintaining our patients' safety and accessibility to care."