Medical System in Western North Carolina

There have been times where we all need the medical system for help. If you have been through the medical system, it’s great for a lot of things. This brings me to a few things that I have been thinking about writing about, but this last go in the hospital system tipped the brain to want to talk about it.

Emergency professionals (paramedics/ambulance people):

While people have off days and good days; the last several times I have been through this ordeal have been …. going downhill. I’ll give you a great example of these guys in great condition. My dad had a stroke, and when I called 911 for him, the ambulance drivers were there within 5-10 minutes. While they were transporting him to the hospital to get checked out, about half way there, they turned on the lights and just took off. When I got to the hospital I found out that his symptoms were showing again. Because of them, my dad’s still here, and my dad also accredits me for saving his life as well. The reason: when I hear something wrong with a family member; I drop everything and come to their aid to help. I’ve done this with so many jobs and so many situations it’s hard to understand why I haven’t been fired for leaving the job. Anyways, enough about that…. Back to the subject at hand. Take the situation like I just explained, and start comparing it with the quality of care now. For comparison sake, his episode happened in 2019, and three years have changed things that we would never have foreseen. Back to my last experience, I called 911, the fire department responded. This was largely due to the ambulance was already at the hospital caring for someone else. For the record, I don’t blame them for that AT ALL. When an ambulance did show up, the care was decent, and while I was on the hospital the tech in the back with me was trying to get an IV in. She wasn’t able to get an IV in, because I was dehydrated, but the thing that sticks with me the most, she blamed me for moving my arm in a moving vehicle. I was in a pretty good amount of pain, and during the ride I wasn’t able to get pain medication and/or medication for nausea. While it’s amazing that I was transported so fast, but when we got to the hospital I was delivered to the waiting room. The wait at Mission Hospital Emergency Room was 4+ hours, and after the last experience, I wanted to try Pardee Hospital.

Next topic: Hospital Emergency Room:

Dad took me to the Pardee ER, and when we got there, there may have been 4 patients in the waiting room and maybe 1 that was in front of me. I signed in, got the check outs done, and I continually asked for some medicine for the pain/nausea. After the last spot check, I think it was blood to be drawn for blood tests; I walked up to the little area that had several nurses. I told them that I was fixing to pass out. The male nurses, let’s call him Bob, that was there yelled at me and said then go sit down. I went back and fell back into the chair and within a few seconds, I lost control of my legs/neck. Then I blacked out, I remember a few times waking up to a HORRIBLE pain of Bob doing a sternum rub on me. I went in and out of consciousness for the next few hours. I woke up to someone pinching the FUCK out of my fingers, and/or doing a sternum rub on me once again. When I finally got aware enough to ask for someone, I asked for my dad. He was already gone, and it was already 1:30AM. I finally got in an area where they would treat me, and the first thing they did was put an NG tube in me. I will continue this in a moment, I want to talk about the people in the ER. While I was going through all off the tests; I normally talk to the professional and ask them stuff. Bob was the one that said something VERY interesting. I asked him how long he had been a nurses, 3 years. Next: Do you like being a nurses? No, he explained that COVID killed it, and it’s no longer a profession he wants to be in the profession. See Sparked Thoughts for some questions I have now. Continuing after the NG Tube installation…. They were surprised how fast the stuff was coming out. I remember them saying they had drained 2.5 liters of stuff off of the NG tube in the first 20-30 minutes. They also got the pain level down to where it was more manageable.

Hospital Nurses/Staff:

Once I was in a regular room, I was cared for pretty good. While Pardee seems like an old hospital; the staff was responsive and explained things. The only complaint I do have, once I had been there for a few days and was getting more aware, the responsiveness seemed to go down drastically. Several times I was trying to get out in the hall way to find someone. The nurse bell would go unanswered for up to 10 minutes. While the first nurse said he (not Bob) had 6 patients to attend to, and something I found unsettling is the woman that was in the next room to me having COVID. While it was funny to joke about, she was having hard times. I wasn’t making fun of her hard times, just how she was talking and yelling to people. The nurses handled it VERY well though.

Sparked Thoughts:

Let’s say Bob’s views are common among the health professionals:

• Were is the healthcare industry going to end up?
• What is the state of the type of health treatment people are getting now?
• What are the statistics on the # of health professionals compared to 3 years ago…. 5 years ago?

Conclusion:

I’m concerned where we are heading for the medical system as a whole. What can we do to help with this?