team emergencies

[dlavery]

At the 2001 Nationals, we were eating dinner after arriving in Orlando on Wednesday evening, when one of the engineers started having severe chest pains radiating down the left arm. We were staying at one of the off-Disney hotels and there was an emergency medicine center right down the street. We got him there - FAST! Then we were introduced to "sunshine medicine."

We came in and said "he is having chest pains and needs to see someone right now!" They said "have a seat, we will get to you in a few minutes."

We said "no, he is having chest pains and difficulty breathing and needs to see someone right now!" They said "we will be with you in a few minutes."

We said "does 'possible heart attack' mean anything to you?" They said "is he having chest pains?"

A moment of stunned silence. Then "yes, that is what we said". To which they responded "we don't handle chest pains here. You have to go to the hospital." "Isn't this an emergency care facility?" "Yes, but we don't handle chest pains."

Rather than argue the point, we asked if they could call an ambulance to take him to the nearest hospital. To which they responded - and here is the kicker - "we don't have an ambulance here, or under contract to come here. The hospital is only about a mile down the street. Your best bet is to just have him walk down there." Apparently, the notion that having a patient with active chest pain take a brisk one-mile stroll to a real medical facility might be a BAD IDEA never occurred to this particular nurse.

Fortunately we were able to get a taxi right outside and get him there quickly. All turned out well and he was OK, just suffering from an acute lung inflamation and a severe case of embarassment. The best part of the whole adventure was when we got to the REAL hospital and the only bed they had open in the emergency room was the one for pediatric cases. We have this great photograph of him lying there in his hospital gown, stretched out on top of a seven foot long, big purple plastic "Barney The Dinosaur" bed!

-dave