A woman from 100 Mile House says she had to fight tooth and nail to get a voucher to get home after a stay in the Royal Inland Hospital.

Olivia Fletcher was in a car accident on Friday and when she was being discharged from the hospital on Saturday, she claims they tried to put her out with no clothes or a way home. Fletcher claims she was told that her getting home was not their problem. “I said I’m absolutely not leaving, but the reality is you need to get me there, or you send me back to the hospital [in 100 Mile House] and they can discharge me, but this is unacceptable. I can’t just leave, I will die.”

Fletcher says the doctor told her she could go back to her home in 100 Mile House, but she was then left on her own to figure out how to get there. “He said, but I feel like you should be able to heal right at home. I said that’s great and he walked away. At that point, I was being told to leave. I said well what are you talking about? I am injured. I have no way to leave. I have no clothing, I have no shoes, it’s almost December.” She says refused to just leave the hospital and fought with staff for about five hours until finally getting a $400 taxi voucher.

The Executive Director of Clinical Operations at RIH says they recognize that transportation to rural communities can be a challenge.  Tracey Rannie says they have a policy to make sure people aren’t left stranded when it is time to leave. “We do recognize that transportation can be a challenge, particularly when it comes rural communities. RIH will work with a patient, family and social workers to explore options for transport home and sometimes that includes a taxi voucher is that’s appropriate for the situation.”

Fletcher says she has heard many other stories like hers and just doesn’t want to see others go through what she did.

Listen to the full interviews with both Olivia Fletcher and Tracey Rannie from The Jeff Andreas Show below: