My hospital bed at NBH Emergency Department
Much to my dismay I spent 4 hours in an Emergency Room yesterday. I am fine! I had a migraine headache for over 48 hours and the nurse practitioner at the Little Clinic said to go to the ER for a CT scan just to rule out any abnormalities. I am fine, no brain tumors, cancer, etc. Just a really bad migraine. Anyway, I would not return to the Norton Baptist Health out by Costco in the future. The doctors and nurses were very kind. However, the wait time and accommodations were deplorable. I waited for an hour to see someone in the triage where they did not really ask me that much. Then I was given a bed in a hallway outside of an active elevator. I was told I could wait in the waiting room for a private room but it could be hours. I took the hall and a partition, “what about HIPPA I asked?” at that point the doctor was ready to lead me back to hours of waiting in a waiting room with actively vomiting patients waiting. No thank you, I stayed in the hallway.
Everything in a hospital is delayed and slowed down. It took an hour to have my blood taken, another hour before I received a CAT Scan and over another hour before anyone read it. I felt even worse for the couple across the hall from me in front of the other active elevator who also had no privacy but a partition, she had to change into a hospital gown in front of the elevator. I know the hospital was overcrowded and the nurses and doctors were doing the best they could in that situation, of course how good could it ever be in a hospital anyway?
On the other hand I was humbled by the fact that I left with the exact headache I entered the hospital with but the knowledge that I have no life threatening diseases. Others were still in the hospital when I left, one went for surgery, another one had no one there by her side, like I had my husband. I appreciate my health, my support system, and my ability to function normally except for the pain of a migraine. After the hospital visit I had dinner with my family and went to the evening Mass and thanked God for my health and the ability to no longer be in the hospital.
