SaskatoonA Saskatoon family wants the people in charge of Saskatchewan hospitals to stay in one for a few sleepless nights to fully understand what a loved one endured while stuck in a bed in a busy emergency department hallway.Lloyd Coakwell, 74, says his mental health suffered during stayJeremy Warren · CBC News · Posted: Nov 05, 2025 7:26 PM EST | Last Updated: 6 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesLloyd Coakwell, 74, says he spent six days in a hospital bed in a chaotic emergency department hallway at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon. The cancer patient went to the ER with a severe ear infection and says his stay affected his mental health. (Jeremy Warren/CBC)A Saskatoon family wants the people in charge of Saskatchewan hospitals to stay in one for a few sleepless nights to fully understand what a loved one endured while stuck in a bed in a busy emergency department hallway.Lloyd Coakwell, 74, has a rare bone marrow cancer called myelofibrosis. Last month, he went to Royal University Hospital with a severe ear infection.He spent the next six days in a bed in the emergency department’s chaotic hallway. There was no privacy and he slept restlessly under bright lights and across from a room where the hospital stores dirty laundry.Already dealing with cancer and a serious infection, Lloyd struggled to maintain his mental health and the family suffered watching it, said his wife Marilyn Coakwell. “How can you heal?” Marilyn said in an interview at her home. “How can you possibly heal physically and mentally? You don’t. It breaks you.”On Wednesday, the Coakwell family and the Opposition NDP held a news conference to push for action from health officials. Marilyn challenged Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill and Saskatchewan Health Authority executives to spend a few nights in a hallway hospital bed.“You need to experience it,” she said.“I’m not seeing a whole lot of empathy and the only way you could really, truly understand it is if you were in there,” she said. “Unless you’re willing to put yourself in that position…”“They won’t,” Lloyd said.WATCH | ‘No dignity’: Sask. man decries mother’s days-long stay in hospital hallway:’No dignity’: Sask. man decries mother’s days-long stay in hospital hallwayTim Lang says after his mother suffered a stroke, she had to spend three days in an emergency room hallway at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon waiting for a bed. The Saskatchewan Health Authority responded after a viral social media video showed patients crowded into hallways.The CBC requested an interview from the Saskatchewan Health Authority and was sent a statement, which acknowledged that “capacity pressures create a difficult environment for patients who are seeking care” at hospital emergency departments.“We regret that these pressures have resulted in a difficult experience for this patient during an already challenging time, and we would welcome the opportunity to meet with this patient to better understand and learn from their experience,” the SHA said in the statement.The SHA said “enhancements” are coming to improve ER wait times and it will add 109 acute care inpatient beds at City Hospital over the next year.NDP Opposition health critic Keith Jorgenson said overcrowding is happening because hospitals are “clogged up” with former acute care patients waiting to move into long-term care or rehabilitation.He said the province should open City Hospital’s emergency room 24 hours a day to ease pressure on the other two hospitals.Marilyn said hospital staff were great while working under difficult circumstances and Lloyd was eventually moved to a room with more privacy. But the traumatic experience still affects her husband, who had difficulty recounting his six days at RUH.“Something is wrong with the system,” Lloyd said.Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill seems to agree.“Some of the stories, quite frankly, are just not acceptable,” Cockrill told reporters on Wednesday at the legislature. “We know there are challenges in the health-care system.”Cockrill said recent investments into the health-care system will take time to pay off, but 40 of the 109 new beds for City Hospital are already in use.“This isn’t something that happens overnight,” Cockrill said. “You don’t add acute bed space within a day or within a week. You also have to staff up because acute beds take more staff.”WATCH | Man who underwent invasive procedure in hospital hallway recounts experience:Saskatoon man who underwent invasive procedure in hospital hallway recounts ‘scariest medical experience’In August, Kay Roberts went to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon suffering from terrible headaches. The 36-year-old had to undergo invasive procedures in a hallway due to lack of available beds in the hospital. ABOUT THE AUTHORJeremy Warren is a reporter in Saskatoon. You can reach him at jeremy.warren@cbc.ca.
Saskatoon cancer patient says he endured 6 days in chaotic ER hallway
