St. Catherine’s General Hospital.

My name is Phillip Wallace.

On Sunday January the 10th, I dropped my 9 months and 2 days pregnant wife and our daughter off at your hospital’s front doors. We carefully placed my wife into the wheelchair that I went inside your hospital and retrieved in the plain sight of all your staff.

My wife and my daughter obviously checked in as I went to park our vehicle. I got back to the entrance after parking the vehicle and I informed the staff that my wife is in labor and I would like to go in and be with her.

They said no. Your daughter already checked in with your wife so you are not allowed in. I said that doesn’t make any sense and repeated myself and they repeated that I am not allowed to be with my wife.

I moved away from the desk and called my daughter to come down and got her to leave the hospital. So, at this point my daughter is now completely outside of the hospital and my wife is inside the hospital by herself in labor.

I alone presented myself back to the front entrance and again I was told I cannot enter the hospital because my daughter had already registered as the one eligible person to be allowed to enter with the patient.

When does common sense kick in.?
As I continually questioned the policy saying We are a family what could my daughter have done in the 10 no lets’ say 15 minutes that she was inside the hospital with her mother that would make me now ineligible to enter the hospital with my family that I live with because it was not only that they were saying I couldn’t enter right now but they were also strongly saying that I cannot enter at all. You have to stay outside, not wait one hour or two hours which would have still been silly but they were saying you are not allowed to enter at all.

We went back and forth. No expletives were used but the front desk decided to call security instead of their boss and security, called the police.

I refused to leave; I stood my ground firm trying to plead my case to the hospital staff who refused to listen.
As they repeatedly said to me “You have to leave the building ” and I repeatedly said to them, where do you want me to go…my wife is having our son inside your hospital, by herself…where would you go, where would you be right now, if you were me.

At this point I am talking loud now hoping someone else would come to my rescue. Telling the ladies at the front desk to call someone, there has got to be someone else around here besides you guys making the decisions. Where is your boss ? Where is the manager ?

They gave me a number to call. Even though they knew the office was closed because this was all happening on a Sunday. I called it anyways.

Eventually, someone did show up to the hospital foyer before I was handcuffed, arrested and dragged out of there because I was not leaving under any circumstances that I could prevent.

A lady who appeared addressed me as the manager in charge, and she got straight to the point.
And said sir, if you put on your mask and sanitize your hands you will be able to enter.
Of course, I was already wearing my mask and I had sanitized my hands maybe 3 times by the time she had showed up.

This same lady who reported to me as the manager, even spoke to me in a condescending tone as if I was crap on her shoes, that she was trying to wipe off. She did not apologize at all for anything that had transpired in her hospital’s foyer.

But I secured my mask anyways and sanitized my hands and dashed up to the fourth floor to be with my wife.

We had our son later on that day. Via c section. We were told our son had an issue with his breathing. We spent another 10 days there in the NICU.
My wife also checked back into the hospital 2 days after she was released because she had been infected and was given antibiotic medication.

We are all trying to live through the pandemic together, it is not only a hospital problem. Although we do understand the pressure that particularly hospital staff is under during these trying times.

My family and I, strongly believe that BLM.

We don’t like to create problems but the situation was handled terribly and we haven’t heard anything from the hospital so we suspect that this type of stuff either happens all the time where the police are called and is just swept under the rug or they go unreported by your staff.

I knew I was right. Even though the staff and security kept threatening me saying leave or else. Even while 2 police vehicles pulled up out front of the hospital. I was still confident that I was right where I was supposed to be.

I guess the point I’m trying to get across is, your response to my letter or lack thereof will determine what happens next because I believe we were treated unfairly and my family’s story should be told; possibly even over and over again.

Thanks for listening.

Phillip, Natasha, Neska, Inissi, Wallace

647 655-2039

anthonywallace187@hotmail.com