My 73-year-old mother was here last month, visiting from Idaho. She became ill with heart attack symptoms and I called 911. The medics were AMAZING. After we arrived at Providence St. Peter's, I was shocked to find that they had to get her into a wheelchair and leave her in line to check in as though she had not been brought in by ambulance. After we got checked in, she was made to hang out in the waiting area, was triaged like a walk-in, and had to move into chairs to get her blood drawn and IV started. Throughout this, she was vomiting and in pain. She was not able to stand or walk unassisted. Finally she was taken back to a bed in the hallway. The IV hydration meant she needed to urinate and each time I was told to walk her to the bathroom myself. I am not a big woman and the whole time I was afraid she was going to fall. Finally a staff member offered to hook up a device that would allow her to simply urinate into a tube which would then funnel urine into a suction device, and into a bin. She agreed. Right there in the hallway without so much as a curtain, my sweet mother had to disrobe and have this device applied to her *****. She was in so much pain she didn't care, but for me the experience was just mind blowing. An old woman having to expose her genitals in a hallway. She ended up admitted but there were no rooms available so she was moved into a private room on one side of the ER. In the middle of the night, a room opened and she was moved. Her stay after that was great. But the emergency room experience - oh, my. I hope we never need that ER again. It's better than nothing, but WOW there is so much need for change - for more - more room, more staffing, more beds, more funding, MORE. This poor ER is not able to meet the needs of the community and is struggling really hard.
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