When my wife is suffering, I want to be with her and see her
with my own eyes and hear her with my own ears. I don’t want to be told second
or third hand what is happening. I don’t trust anyone until I have confirmation
for myself that she is safe.
I arrived at the waiting room and waited in line. The clerk
at the admitting desk had not heard of Teresa. I was pretty sure she was there –
either that, or the ambulance was the kind that had to be pedalled.
I used the courtesy phone to call the central switchboard.
They confirmed that Teresa had indeed been admitted, and was in Emergency.
She was so close – somewhere behind the secure glass doors.
It was frustrating.
I asked a young lady who was volunteering if she could help.
She headed off to find out where Teresa was.
I sat, staring at my shoes – eerily like the Death Cab for
Cutie song “What Sarah Said.” The TV was entertaining itself, and nobody was
looking up except when a nurse walked in announcing a name.
I became consumed with worries and “what ifs.” Finally, the
volunteer returned – no, she couldn’t find anyone named Teresa.
I looked down the hall and saw two women come out of the
Social Workers offices. One wore high heels, the other sneakers. I walked up
and interrupted, asking to speak to the sneakered one (see my earlier post “Getting
Support from Child Protective Services” for the reasons why).
I told her my problem. She smiled, and said “I’ll talk to
the nurses and we’ll find her for you.”
In five minutes she was back with a nurse. They took me
through the glass doors to where Teresa was, about twenty meters from where I
had been sitting the whole time. The whole process had taken about forty
minutes.
I saw many other worried and frustrated people arrive –
knowing that a loved one had been brought in by ambulance, but not knowing
where they were. The quiet anxiety in the waiting room is palpable.
If part of a hospital’s mission is to alleviate suffering,
they could do a lot of work in the waiting room. A good start would be making a
social worker available to help reduce the anxiety and suffering.
Just as long as it’s one who wears comfortable shoes.
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