by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist (read the original in Noozhawk by clicking here)
In the past horrific months, miracles abounded. It was amazing that more people weren’t killed, that neighbors helped save neighbors, and that first responders were there in our darkest hours.
The injured began arriving at hospitals just between shifts, so we’re doubly grateful the hospitals ran double shifts to provide victims with the comfort they needed.
Between the two disasters, we had our own emergency, when a family member was hospitalized for nine days in San Francisco. It was our first experience with hospitals other than the generally happy world of maternity wards.
Our family received excellent care from everyone from the orderlies taking the trash and changing the bed to the chief hospital administrator, who made rounds with her doctors on New Year’s Eve.
I also realized, belatedly, that, like preparing for fire, flood and earthquake, health emergencies can be ameliorated with preparation. It brought out the (financial) planner in me.
The first item in preparation is to understand when a trip to the emergency room is warranted. Your best first contact is your health provider. But if it’s a holiday, weekend, or after hours, a response may not be forthcoming immediately.
Consolidating from web sources, visit the emergency room if you have:
• Trouble breathing
• Passing out, fainting, or seizures
• (Unexplained) pain in the arm or jaw
• Unusual or bad headache, especially if it started suddenly
• Suddenly not able to speak, see, walk or move; or sudden confusion
• Suddenly weak or drooping on one side of the body
• Dizziness or weakness that does not go away
• Inhaled smoke or poisonous fumes
• Heavy bleeding or deep wound
• Possible broken bone, loss of movement, especially if the bone is pushing through the skin
• Serious burn
• Coughing or throwing up blood
• Severe pain anywhere on the body
• Severe allergic reaction with trouble breathing, swelling, hives
• High fever with headache and stiff neck, or that does not get better with medicine
• Throwing up or loose stools that does not stop
• Poisoning or overdose of drug or alcohol
• Suicidal thoughts
Borderline cases have to be weighed against the inevitable downsides of emergency rooms: long waits and the supremacy of germs from seriously sick people. It’s also an expensive and inefficient way to get care, which is why maintaining good self-care and annual check-ups are important.
Along with your fire, flood and earthquake kits, having an emergency hospitalization plan is a necessary tool in your emergency toolkit. It could save hassle, pain, and perhaps your life.
An excellent guide is The Patient’s Checklist, by patient advocate Elizabeth Bailey.
Bailey provides 10 checklist chapters outlining specifics of what to bring, what questions to ask doctors, master medication lists and logs, insurance checklists, and other tips.
Before you go, she urges: Determine who will be your support system while you’re in the hospital. Write who (and who not) you would like to have visit. Keep a list of every prescription, over-the-counter drug, vitamin, and herbal remedy you take.
It is important to treat all health-care providers with the dignity and professionalism they deserve. It is also essential to remain the center of your health-care decision team, and to have appointed a health-care proxy in case you’re incapacitated.
Our family member was kept informed of daily changes with a white board on the wall facing the bed. It listed the doctors and nurses on duty, diet restrictions and other details.
One blank was labeled “patient concerns.” In a lighter moment one day, we filled in the blank with “climate change.” Alas, no one ever dealt with that disaster.
Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist
Karen Telleen-Lawton is an eco-writer, sharing information and insights about economics and ecology, finances and the environment. Having recently retired from financial planning and advising, she spends more time exploring the outdoors — and reading and writing about it. The opinions expressed are her own.