I am still in the hospital. It has opened my eyes to a problem here in the Corpus Christi area. While what I have just experienced is local to this area, you might want to check your area for a similar situation. What I am about to describe could be a critical crack in our “Homeland Security” protection. Hopefully it will not be a situation that will be found in your area.
I started this trek on Tuesday morning after I got up at 6AM to go to the bathroom. I was presented with evidence of a medical problem, massive bleeding. It was enough that I went into shock for several minutes. We called our doctor and got his on call physician who advised calling 911 to get an ambulance for transportation to the emergency room. The ambulance...in fact two of them...arrived quickly and by 7AM I was in the Emergency room, lying on a gurney, getting signed in. They then checked my blood pressure, blood count, and X rayed me to see if I had a perforated intestine. I didnt and all my blood work was fine so I was shuttled into a side room to await the Dr. Unfortunately, unknown to me, my doctor didnt have privileges at this hospital so I was going to be moved to a hospital in Corpus Christi. I was informed that there was a waiting list to get a room in Corpus Christi and I was number 13 on that list. That included all three of the major hospitals. I wasnt worried, after all, I was an emergency with internal bleeding and surely 13 rooms would clear out quickly with three hospitals to choose from.
I was sadly mistaken. At 6PM I was still on the gurney in the emergency room and was STILL number 13 on the list to get a room in Corpus Christi and was told it could take two to three days to clear out the backlog. At 7pm the shift changed and the nurse coming on duty in the emergency room had seen me before he left that morning and immediately went to action to get something done! This is when I found that the only way I could leave the emergency room was to be transferred to a hospital room. I could NOT just walk out....not permitted. And then I found that they had rooms right here in this hospital! My wife, a retired nurse, and her friend, a retired Director of an Emergency Room, both went into “Lets get something done” mode. I cant imagine what would have happened to someone without two experienced nurses to handle the situation for them. I guess they would have laid there on the gurney for three days. Oh, did I mention that there are NO MEALS in the emergency room. Three days without food or water!!!
At this point I selected an on call doctor/surgeon from this hospital and was admitted. From this point on things have gone well.
But the point of this is that we have several refineries around here. What if there had been an explosion in one of them and there were 30 or more severe burn victims and there was a 12 bed waiting list?
I asked about the reasons for the shortage of beds and got four stories. I think all of them are, just that, stories.
#1 There were just not enough beds.
#2 There were not enough nurses to staff the rooms that they had available
#3 The rooms were taken up by indigents that had come in to get out of the cold.
#4 The rooms were filled by all the older Winter Texans that had come down for the winter.
As a receiver of services and not one of the people responsible for planning in the cities emergency preparedness, I can only respond to the information I am given. I cannot guess the truth of it or deduce the true reasons.
BUT, there is a problem. As I said above, whatever the problem is it is a critical problem.
If #1 is the true problem then someone needs to get to work getting government grants to build more hospital rooms because Obamacare will NOT promote the construction of new hospitals!!
If #2 is the problem then its going to get much worse as people are abandoning a profession that is declining because of the limited funds that hospitals will have to hire qualified nurses.
If #3 is the problem then there needs to be more places where the homeless can get care in dangerous weather without filling up hospital beds.
If #4 is the problem, there needs to be a fence at the Red River. Right now, if that is the problem, I am really concerned about Border Security, the Texas/ Oklahoma border.
But, no matter what the problem, someone in Corpus Christi who is responsible for emergency planning is NOT doing their job when a patient with internal bleeding is left lying in a gurney in the emergency room with no hope of a room for three days. Its not like there has been no experience. For years there have been homeless people on the streets. For years there have been Winter Texans coming to the area in the winter. January and February may be critical months, but they have been critical all along. Where is the planning? Why not even just a little triage to throw out the fakers who come in for the warmth and the food so a critical patient can get care?
Jim Isbell
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