Mother says ER wait too long for bleeding son

Editor:

On Christmas Eve we had our 2-year-old son in the ER. The decision to go to our community hospital wasn’t any easy one due to previously poor service.

But with our little guy bleeding for over an hour from falling with a toy flute in his mouth – seeking care as close to home seemed to be the best choice.

Upon arrival we were told they were extremely busy. I too work in a health care facility and understand the chaos that can come unexpectedly. While registering, we overheard a family on there way out of the ER say that they had been there for 7 hours. My stomach turned.

We were put in a room to wait for the doctor to examine my son, keep in mind still bleeding. After 2 hours of being told “just a few more minutes” but I had enough. We were able to get the bleeding to stop ourselves and got my son to start talking and playing.

We decided to head home and follow up with our primary care physician. For a health care facility that states they are there for the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of the patient and family, you’d expect more.

My family is a big supporter of our community and it’s a shame that my son was treated as just another room filled instead of a child with a medical emergency.

We would love to be able to support our local hospital but with poor customer service, short staffed ER and physicians that expect families to wait on them, we will drive the extra miles to ensure our family receives quality care.

It’s important that each patient and family is treated with respect, dignity and compassion.

Randi Poler
Medina