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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KDVR) — Life can turn on a dime. One moment Alexis Pierce’s daughter was a happy and healthy 4-year-old. The next moment she was in a hospital after a dog bit her in the face.

“She looked terrible. So swollen and so much blood and her lip hanging off,” Pierce said.

The little girl suffered wounds to her mouth, her cheek, and around both eyes.

“She’s lucky not to lose her eyeball,” she said.

Pierce rushed her daughter to UC Health Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs where she says she was given an IV. They then waited four hours for an ambulance to transport her to Children’s Hospital Colorado, she said.

“All they kept saying was they’re almost here, they’re coming, they’re coming,” Pierce said.

Little did they know that was just the beginning of a long day of waiting.

Upon finally arriving at Children’s Hospital Colorado, Pierce says she was told her daughter needed a test for COVID-19.

“At first I said for what? Just fix her face. What does it matter?” she said.

One hour became another and then another. The 4-year-old girl waited in the emergency room on painkillers waiting for the COVID-19 results to return.

“It seemed like forever. To me it’s like you’re just going to dope my child up and put her into bed? That’s what they did. They gave her a bunch of pain meds and then left her there,” Pierce said.

Finally, after six hours, Pierce says her daughter was wheeled into the operating room. She says it’s a wait she can’t forgive.

“Maybe they were understaffed, maybe it was negligence, I don’t know. I just know I had to wait for a very long time. This is honestly the most traumatizing thing I’ve ever gone through in my whole life,” she said.

The FOX31 Problem Solvers did reach out to Children’s Hospital Colorado, Colorado Springs about that wait.

They sent the Problem Solvers a statement saying:

A COVID-19 test is not required for a patient visit to the emergency department nor is it required to receive necessary, emergent care (including emergency surgery). Children are tested for COVID-19 prior to a surgical procedure and/or inpatient hospital admission. This helps ensure that we identify and prevent the spread of COVID-19 while providing the safest care for children and protecting our health care workers.