Protest mars family's last moments with dying mother

Every day for the past six years, Nancy Hall made the trip from her home in Chelsea, Que., to visit her mother in a long-term care residence attached to Ottawa'slisabeth Bruyre Hospital in Lowertown.

Recently, Alice Hall's health took a turn for the worse. She died Monday. She was 94.

Nancy Hall said the noisy demonstration by truckers and others opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Ottawa made an already sadsituation immeasurably worse.

"It was stressful enough and then to have this impediment to getting here, well it just was overwhelming," Hall said of the blockades and bridge closures."Just the feelings of seeing the trucks and knowing what they stood for when my mom was dying in a long-term care setting, it was brutal."

While Hall says she respects people's right to peaceful protest, her patience has run out.

"I'm just done with it.I just have no more tolerance for that," she said.

Front-line workers yelled at

The protest is also affecting staff at both the lisabeth BruyreHospitaland its sister campus, Saint-Vincent Hospital near Bronson Avenue,according to the hospital's administration. Both are in the area the city is asking people to avoid.

"[Staff] are reporting feeling quite intimidated and threatened when they're walking into work if they're wearing a mask," said Peggy Taillon, the hospital's vice-president for strategy and communications. "They're being pointed at and being yelled at."

While the two hospitalsare accustomed to dealing with large-scale eventssuch as Canada Day and one-day protests, Taillonsaidthe days-long protests havecreated new challenges.

"This is far more disruptive because it's sustained and prolonged and we actually don't know what to expect from day to day," she said. "It's been really hard on our team."

WATCH| Health-care workersdowntown stressedby protests:

Health-care workers at downtown Ottawa hospitals facing stress caused by protests

2 years ago

Duration 1:10

Peggy Taillon, vice-president for strategy and communications at Bruyre Hospital, says protesters have been harassing health-care employees who are trying to get to work, leaving facing yet more stress.

For example, Taillonsaid, staff are having to spendmore time commuting and there have been instances of delays in shift changes.

"What we're seeing is an eight-hour shift is turning into a twelve-hour shift," she said.

Taillon saidthus far, the quality of patient care for those admitted to the hospital has not been affected, but she's heard from doctors who say the protest has disrupted scheduled visits and treatments.

"Patients who had been waiting weeks for appointments that had been postponed or cancelled because of the [province's] lockdownhave cancelled theirappointments because they were afraid to come in," she said.

Adding to the stress of making it to work on time and without incident, staff and patients at the Lowertowncampus were alsothe subject of a disruptive convoy drive-byon Sunday afternoon, according to John Paquin, who works at the hospital.

"About six vans went around the hospital blasting their horns," he said. "I thought to myself 'that'sterrible, it's disgusting that you would even think of doing that.'"