OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A metro family is frustrated with the healthcare system, after struggling for days to get their elderly parent a room in the ER.

"It's the most helpless, horrible feeling I could ever describe," said Jennifer Wallis, mother stuck in ER.

Wallis says it all started Tuesday when she received a call from her mother's doctor saying she was in renal failure and needed to go to the emergency room at INTEGRIS Health Baptist Medical Center.

"She's 81 years old, she has dementia and chronic kidney disease, so we took her there and they stuck her on a stretcher and put her in a hallway in the E.R.," said Wallis.

Wallis says her mother received little care, only an IV drip and occasional checks every four hours.

"She was crying, she wanted to go home and see her cat and she didn't understand why she was there," said Wallis.

After two full days of being left in the hallway, Wallis took matters into her own hands.

"They paged the doctor, I asked for the nurse three times, no one ever came, so I found a wheelchair and we left," said Wallis.

It didn't end there. Wallis was stunned when police showed up at her mother's home. She says INTEGRIS called them, and when she explained the situation police were understanding

"Even though it might be a bold move, I'm going to fight for my mom and I'm going to fight to get her the care that she deserves," said Wallis.

Her mother is now at SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital, where she got a bed immediately.

"I really appreciate health care workers. I know they're doing the best they can, but our health care system is failing and definitely needs an overhaul and we need to put patients first and that is not what is happening," said Wallis.

News 4 reached out to INTEGRIS and they declined an interview, but sent a statement.

Patient care and safety is always our top priority. In addition to caring for patients needing urgent, high-level care and intervention, we are experiencing an influx of emergency room patients due to the flu, COVID and other circulating illnesses. This is causing longer than normal wait times. In the emergency room, patients are triaged and seen in the order of their severity. Being a high-acuity hospital, we routinely receive patients who require immediate life-saving care. On occasion, like other health systems across the metro, we will create temporary hallway rooms to accommodate the high patient load. While we can’t comment on this particular situation due to patient privacy laws, we do work very hard to keep our ER wait times to a minimum.

INTEGRIS Health spokesperson

News 4 also reached out to other hospitals across the metro to see if their rooms are full.

SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital has experienced an increase in patients being hospitalized this winter due to respiratory illnesses, including the flu.  We have increased our inpatient capacity to care for more patients during the surge. Our capacity routinely changes throughout each day. At this time, we are pleased to accommodate patients at every level of care. 

SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital spokesperson

Mercy’s Emergency Departments in Oklahoma City and Edmond are open and patient volumes are normal for this time of year. There are no excessive wait times and our caregivers are ready for patients. The flu season peak that temporarily crowded our emergency rooms started trending down in late February. Remember to call 911 in life-threatening emergencies.

Dr. Lance Watson, Emergency Department Manager at Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City 

Norman Regional has three emergency departments in Norman and Moore. All are prepared to care for the community. Nursing leaders report that the Emergency Department is busy, but no specific diagnosis is contributing to the volume. I cannot provide exact wait times in the Emergency Department as patients are triaged and seen by the severity of their illness. Our system also offers three Urgent Care clinics for minor injuries and illnesses in Norman, Moore and Goldsby. 

Norman Regional Health System spokesperson

Which twenty-six Reds will we see?

A good bit has changed about the nature of the Cincinnati Reds roster mix since last we gave our best guess at who might be included on it come Opening Day.

Spencer Steer’s shoulder maintained its issues, and he received a cortisone shot back on March 1st. Andrew Abbott, though, has seen his shoulder progress well enough that he threw a pair of IP in a AAA game just yesterday. Rhett Lowder is still behind schedule, unfortunately, but at least it looks like he’s moving forward and not backwards. Speaking of ‘back,’ Tyler Stephenson headed for an MRI after lingering back pain.

Rule 5 draftee Cooper Bowman was sent back to the Oaksacvegas Athletics, while former top prospect Noelvi Marte was officially sent down to AAA.

That’s a lot to process, as are the risks of losing players in camp as non-roster invitees if they aren’t selected to start the season. Same goes for players with no options remaining, as they very well could be scooped up on waivers if not placed on the roster from day one.

With Opening Day now less that two weeks away (!!), here’s our latest, greatest estimate of which Reds will make up the Opening Day roster.

Catcher

I’ve got Tyler Stephenson (1) still on here alongside Jose Trevino (2), as all initial reports on Ty Steve’s back are that his issue is minor. It may mean we see more of Jose in the lineup early on, so far there’s nothing to suggest these aren’t the two backstops they’ll carry from day one.

Infielders (5)

Elly De La Cruz (3) and Matt McLain (4) are the cornerstones of this team, and they’ll form the middle infield. Christian Encarnacion-Strand (5) and Jeimer Candelario (6) seem to be locks in the corner rotation, while Santiago Espinal (7) has solidified his spot as the do-it-all infielder in reserve.

Gavin Lux

Gavin Lux (8)! He’ll see time at 3B, 2B, LF, and even at DH when the time is right. Since I’ve got Spencer Steer beginning the year on the IL, Lux’s versatility will help offset that usually created by having Steer on the roster for the time being.

Outfielders (5)

TJ Friedl (9) is back and healthy and poised to be the everyday CF and leadoff man all 4-WAR style once again. He’ll be flanked by Jake Fraley (10) and Austin Hays (11) most days, with Stuart Fairchild (12) a RHH option on days when Terry Francona wants to stack those up against southpaws. That brings us to Blake Dunn (13), whose RHH ability wins out in this mix over Will Benson since Lux, a LHH, is filling the ‘move anywhere when it’s time to switch’ role previously occupied by Steer, a RHH. In other words, I think Francona will choose to have one more righty bat around than another lefty.

Starting Rotation

Hunter Greene (14) will start on Opening Day, as well he should. He’ll be flanked in some order by each of Nick Martinez (15), Brady Singer (16), and Nick Lodolo (17) for sure at this point. Since the season is long as all heck, I just don’t think the Reds will rush back Andrew Abbott at anything less than ‘full stretched out,’ so I expect him to begin on the IL and miss a turn or two through the rotation - if anything, that may make him even more valuable down the stretch in August/September. I think the Reds carry Carson Spiers (18) as something of ‘starter on an expected bullpen day’ for the time being.

Bullpen

I don’t believe Graham Ashcraft (19) starts the year in the minors - rather, I think he’s carried as the piggyback guy for Spiers’ turn through the rotation with the expecation that he can fill-in for multiple IP when needed in a role akin to how Martinez began last year. Brent Suter (20), Sam Moll (21), and Taylor Rogers (22) form the LHP corps in the ‘pen, while Alexis Díaz (23) will resume his role as the closer. RHP options Emilio Pagán (24) and Scott Barlow (25) have guaranteed money on their deals, so they’ll be down there until they prove ten times they shouldn’t be, leaving one final spot that I’m expected to be filled by Tony Santillan (26) - he pitched well enough last year to deserve it and he’s out of options, so that’s a no-brainer.

Notes

Steer and Abbott are the two notable omissions here. Despite how dismal the Reds have begun seasons in recent memory (and how much that has folded any and all optimism entering those years immediately), I just think they’ll play it safe with them (and Lowder). Abbott getting ~27-28 starts is still very much viable, as is Steer surpassing 550 PA.

Ian Gibaut being back in camp is cool, and he’s fanned 8 against a lone walk in 7.0 IP so far this spring. He’s not on the roster, however, as a NRI on a minor league deal, so I don’t expect him to beat out the rest of the options above. That said, I do think he’s showing enough right now to firmly be in the mix as the first bullpen arm promoted when the inevitable dings happen to the rostered names ahead of him.

Chase Petty has looked really, really solid so far in camp, and at this rate he’ll make his debut (and more) as a Red at some point this year...just not on Opening Day or in the first few turns of the rotation, assuming all goes well elsewhere.