David Loos brought his 74-year-old mother to Tennova Healthcare’s emergency room around 7 p.m. on Sept. 5, when he noticed her oxygen levels were low and worried she may have contracted COVID-19.
The pair didn’t leave the hospital until the next day. They waited for more than 15 hours in the hospital’s ER, with Loos’ mom, Phyllis, hooked up to an oxygen tank, before she was shown to a room.
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“Rather if it’s ten minutes or ten hours, there’s going to be some level of frustration,” he said. “But I don’t think our healthcare system was designed for what it is seeing right now, and that’s understandable. Anyone who goes in needs to be understanding of the situation, and that this is unprecedented.
74-year-old woman on oxygen waits for 15 hours at Tennessee ER (dnj.com)
I am going to suggest that one of several reasons why ERs are suddenly “overwhelmed” is because people have not been taught that these places are for emergencies only and not for any and all medical calls.
We went from a culture that solved most minor incidents with a stern “walk it off” to one that pushes the panic button and beckons 911 if little Suzy gets a tummy ache because she downed nine Reese’s peanut butter cups and half a pound of blue Twizzlers. What used be cured with a couple of spoonfuls of cod liver oil, now “requires” several thousands dollars worth of wasted medical services and hours of personnel time.
When I worked hospitality, I saw calls to 911 for drunken puking, sunburns, rashes and even a obviously painful but not life threatening popped off toe nail. Paramedics were all very professional and behaved like champions, but privately they commented on what a waste of time these calls were. Their constant fear was that a true emergency call would come out and they were stuck with Little Pedro who got a splinter in his thumb from his cheap skateboard while mom was screaming and demanding for a Life Flight chopper.
We need to rescue some old lost skills. hell, we may need to train the new generation on how to properly apply a band-aid and to teach them not all meds come in gummy bear form for “nicer” intake.
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