YIKES!! Don’t Get Sick!!!

Today is a saga of health care and my freaking out about what in the world has happened?

Fortunately for me, I have not had to go to an emergency room for a very long time. I know that overall, a lot has changed in the health care field, but never in my heart of hearts, did I expect to witness what I witnessed last night.

Mom needed to be seen by a doctor, after hours, and in the “old” days, that meant going to the hospital. It’s okay to go to Urgent Care for the simple things, but this required a little more.

We pulled up to the door of the Emergency entrance and I fully expected someone to come out with a wheelchair…HA! Silly me! I ran into the entry way to get one of the self-service wheelchairs and took it to the car for Mom. Upon entering, we went to the back of a line with about eight people ahead and soon, the same amount of people behind us.

I took my Dad to a chair to sit while Mom and Joey waited in line. Once they got to the front of the line, they sat with us…only a wristband on my Mom. Step 1…she was pre-registered. Time in 4:02 pm.

Then the waiting (and people watching) began. From the looks of the room, there were a lot of people not feeling well, but I saw no sign of blood or a broken bone and even as I watched the entry door, no one seemed to have outward signs of illness or injury. Of course, the barf bags and the pajama wardrobes did indicate there was sickness in the room.

At 5:15pm, Marcellino was called in for triage. It was when Mom got her IV lead in case an IV would be required and she got her own blood pressure cuff put on her upper arm to save time once she was called back. This visit was about 10 minutes long. Joey and Mom returned to us at 5:27 pm. Step 2 complete.

Lori came to pick up my Dad and take him home, because it was apparent that at 6:30pm, there was going to be a longer wait. We continued to sit and wait.

Next call for Marcellino resulted in an official registration with insurance cards being presented and returned to the lobby to wait more. Step 3 complete…7:30pm.

During this 3+ hours, we watched a lot of activity…there were people coming and going just like we had been. There were patients ordering and eating Mexican food, Panera, and a variety of other snacks. I found this quite odd, when there were people with barf bags in the same area. We saw people who were brought in by ambulance, on a gurney, and then expected to find a seat and wait, because the medics needed the gurney. We saw a young girl who was told that she may have an appendicitis, but she was just sitting in the lobby, doubled over, waiting to be called. Then, a pajama clad girl game in moaning loudly, with her own barf bag, a Kroger bag to be more exact. She asked someone to get off a couch so she could lay down. The man kindly did so, and she laid there, moaning, and tossing and turning on the leather sofa. I was getting sea sick just watching her.

Slowly, people just started to leave.  First a young girl and her parents decided they had had enough. So she just left. Another man had been there for back spasms and he followed her lead and took off as well.

Did I mention that we were the only ones wearing masks? Why couldn’t the ER be a required place for masks? The stomach bug people, the coughing up a lung people, the RSV babies…it was all too much.

One woman, walked in from the hospital dietary department. She nearly fainted so they sent her to the ER. She told anyone who would listen that she was diabetic and hadn’t had anything to eat for hours. She had arrived shortly after 4pm, but each time she told her story to someone, she changed her arrival time…”I’ve been here since 2pm.” “Can you believe I’ve been here since noon?” She provided us with a few laughs.

We watched another person leave and at 9:30pm, we started to discuss our exit plan. We would go to the desk, ask someone to remove the IV lead, and depart. Mom had not had anything to eat/drink for several hours and she couldn’t keep her eyes open. We had a doctor’s appointment scheduled already, so we made the call to get out…she’d be better off at home.

Promptly at 9:50, we decided to do just that. We waited for a few minutes then someone came out and gently removed the tape and the lead. We had to sign a paper stating that we had not seen anyone for treatment and that we would not hold the hospital responsible for anything.

Out we went, shortly after 10pm.  If you have read this far, Mom had a good night after we got home and fed her some soup. Today, she’s resting, and tomorrow, we’ll see the doctor.

But she wouldn’t want me dwelling on her, so I’m dwelling on the state of care in the ER. I’d like to think they were short-handed and at one point, the charge nurse came out and asked that only one person per patient would be ENFORCED as they were busy. I left, walking the WALK OF SHAME and I guess the rules only applied to me because no one else left.

I sat in the car and sent messages to folks and after about 15 minutes, I marched back into the waiting area. While I was sitting there, I was observing that more people were entering. It dawned on me that this ER was an oversized urgent care. As I mentioned before, no one came running in with a child who was bleeding. No one came running in yelling for help. No one thought anything about waiting in the line like you do at the grocery store.

There are signs saying that you may not be called in the order you arrived because more serious cases would be called first. But quite honestly, I didn’t see many people get called back to the actual exam rooms in the whole six hours we were there.

I am not privileged nor do I believe my situation is any worse than someone else’s. However, this ER is NOTHING like it used to be. Remember the days of running into the ER with a washcloth on your child’s eye or forehead and being rushed into a room? I remember meeting Greg in a room after Katie had a seizure as a toddler. The care may have been good but the organization and logistics were lousy.

Waiting rooms should not be lounges. What happened to the uncomfortable chairs around the wall or in rows? This was setup like a family room and people were acting like they were relaxing at home. The TV was not on a good channel either. It was on a channel that featured 911 stories and then cop stories. Blood and guts and crimes should not be shown in an ER.

I guess my lesson from this whole experience is you must be an advocate for yourself. I realized that many people do not have anyone to be with them and that is sad. In fact, I thought of myself briefly and wondered what I would have done had I been alone. My Mom is one of the lucky ones to have been escorted by a tribe. We will not put her through that again.

The best comment of the night was from Dad. He said, “I wonder how many people are cured before they get seen in the back?” We laughed last night, but thinking about it today, I think he may have a point.  

Stay well friends…stay well! Xoxoxox