by Kerry Marsala
June 14, 2004
Six months ago, my one year-old granddaughter was rushed to the ER at a local hospital, she was extremely ill.
a typical night began in a jammed ER, filled with varying degrees of human illnesses all vying for their chance to be seen.
Not far down the road there are several elderly care-facilities. The elderly patients waiting to be seen made up 60% of those needing attention. Wheelchairs lined up in a row, stainless steel IV poles decorated with solution bags and twisted plastic tubing, tired elderly people waiting, some crying, 'Can I just go home?'
One patient in particular, who had metal rods in his back, had been waiting nine hours in his wheelchair; he was a Vietnam Vet. It was just a few hours ago; a waiting patient told me, that the Vet out of boredom or mind screamed outside the doorway, that this overcrowding at the ER was due to the 'illegal aliens'. I think we were all surprised no one punched him. Perhaps everyone had just grown accustomed to ER clients loosing it.
Some of the other guests were intoxicated, had colds, stomach bugs, broken ribs, gall bladder attacks, strep- throats, and maybe just no where else to go. The room was filled with anxiousness, diseases, and worn out people.
In my observations and listening to those checking into the ER ward, most were aCCHS recipients. all I could think was, 'Is this how socialized medicine really works?' I shuddered in my thoughts.
The check-in nurse, who analyzes your status as you walk in, should be nominated for sainthood. If there wasn't a person she was checking in, she was patiently answering: 'Why did so and so get to go in before me?' 'I've been here thirteen hours now and my cough is worse than his broken arm'. With great decorum she would answer each question
Due to my granddaughters' age along with a high temperature, swelling, and rash, she only had to wait 30 minutes to be taken behind the ER doors of admittance.
at 11PM the ER doctors had drawn, tested, spinal tapped what they could, but found nothing. at 1 PM my granddaughter was taken from this ER ward, to another Pediatric Intensive Care Unit across the valley. With the flash of a red light and a blaring siren she was whisked away to another hospital that could meet her desperate needs.
as we left the ER to follow the ambulance, I looked back and saw faces of people who desperately needed care and a staff overwhelmed with those demanding needs.
The aforementioned Vet hollers at us as we exit the door, 'Go to the Memorial Hospital, they can take care of you much quicker!' I wave, and tell him thank you for his concern. But I wondered later, is he still there? Wheeling himself about waiting to be seen? Needing guidance from his social worker?
How did we get lost in this system?
Upon arrival at the next hospital, it is well staffed, ER patients are being cared for at a methodical rate, the patients arriving have their own insurance cards or cash. Such a difference a 25-minute drive can make.
My mind quickly leaves the thought of those suffering under the Governmental Insurance Program, to my granddaughter, who is on aCCHS. Her mom is a single parent and her daughter has to utilize a system that gives poor care. My granddaughter had been sick for months, her mother had tried to get help, there was little given.
The attending doctor at this ER tells us if her daughter had been left untreated a few hours more; it could have meant the difference between life and death.
We trust our system to take thought for those who cannot care for themselves. I've never liked a socialistic run health care system and this proved our system is tied up in bureaucratic red tape. No one appears to give a darn about the elderly, the young, our Vets, and the caregivers that are put into preposterously demanding situations.
It's past time for an overhaul, yesterday would have been preferred, but as one more patient dies under this system, their yesterday was already too late!
(Kerry L. Marsala writes for www.americonservative.com, www.azconservative.org Opinion Editorials; assistant Editor of the GOPUSa/arizona; Independent Newspapers and is a regular contributor to Sarah's Seed Woman's Journal; Focus Magazine and The Truth Magazine. During the 80s Ms. Marsala worked as a freelance photojournalist for The Rock Revue and Newsreel Magazine. Writing about cultural, social and political ideologies by using a bit of satire every now and again helps keep her grey cells stirring. Her philosophy remains that no matter the event, you can always find a bit of humor or the human element of hope somewhere amongst the cracks.)
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