The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we will ask you a question or provide a topic, and you will talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
QUESTION: When was the last time you visited the emergency room? How long did you have to wait?
Talk about it….
Few years back, went in for routine visit, took blood pressure and pulse. 60/40/153
Got wheeled out on gurney to ambulance, ride to hospital ER. Took maybe 20 minutes to be seen. Got out of hospital few days later.
Didn’t have to wait at all! Just spoke Spanish and said I didn’t have insurance!
I do have to say that often when a Hispanic immigrant goes the emergency room, it’s interesting how they bring their entire extended family with them. One person is sick but 10 others came along. I guess it’s kind of a cultural thing that I do respect…but can overwhelm the emergency waiting room.
They probably gave you a cell phone as well. Maybe even a discount on buying a home
Just two years ago for a kidney stone (my first and only one). John Muir Walnut Creek ER. They fast tracked me in because i was in obvious distress. Fortunately the stone passed within 20 minutes of me going through their intake process. Something I hope to never repeat.
Oh Geez, … 1982.
Think we were there 1/2 an hour before knowing some kind of planned was going south.
Our daughter wanted to come out butt first and her poor little body and mine were not going to make it.
Emergency C-Section for me and 4 months of her in half casts on lower legs and a harness to help set her hips. It was interesting when she became a ‘Free Bird’, and I had to try to get pants on her, LOL!
She is doing well 🙂
November 2010. Brand new ER at John Muir Concord. Drive myself with wife thinking I had severe heart burn. Pulled up to old ER entrance by PCH and it was pitch black.
Luckiky I brought my wife with me. She walked around the corner to where there were bright lights. Big sign above doors read “EMERGENCY”. Doors were locked. Turns out it was an ambulance entrance. My wife continued walking around the corner while I was bent over in extreme pain in chest and shoulders at the ambulance entrance.
She came back and told me she found it. I struggled but made it inside. Admission person had me sit down in a wheel chair and asked me to sign a paper. I keeled forward and went lights out. Flat lined with a myocardial infarction. Needless to say I didn’t have to wait long. They rushed me to Operating Room where they worked on me several minutes until pronouncing me dead. Asked my wife if she had someone to call. Very traumatic experience for her. Finally a surgeon came in and performed Cor and used the pads on me and revived me. Lucky for me and my wife for that surgeon who saved my life. Makes you wonder how many people weren’t so lucky. But the wait wasn’t long once we found the new ER. Because of me, they installed new directional signs to the new ER entrance
Blew a blood vessel in my eye and went 80% blind. 5 or 6 minute wait.
Kaiser Walnut Creek was fairly quick. Less than a 15 wait before same doctor. But then probably took another half hour for blood tests and lab tests. It’s funny how emergency rooms go. Sometimes just one or two people there other times- usually evenings or weekends there could be 20 people waiting. But I really like how Kaiser is always handled me.
Went to Merritt ER for a deep cut on my finger. Waited over an hour w/o being seen by anyone. Called the office of a Plastic Surgeon I knew, he said come on over. He was done in 5 minutes and no scar! I can’t even find it. It’s good to know people…
Not as a patient, but in the 90s I interned at Highland Hospital in Oakland. The weekends were nonstop stab and gunshot wounds.
I worked with a guy who said that if he ever got shot he wanted to be taken to Highland because they had so much experience with GSW. I made an equipment delivery there once and if I remember correctly, the front lobby had bullet-proof glass installed.
September 2017, Sutter Delta for what I thought was food poisoning. I guess they took one look at me and determined it wasn’t food poisoning and they took me right in. Ended up having my gall bladder removed. I’d never been in so much pain in my life! They gave me morphine. I LIKE morphine! Never felt a thing after that.
I had the same issue at John Muir on a Friday, except the Morphine they gave me did nothing, the they added a shot of Demerol with the morphine and that only alleviated the pain. Then they tried to send me home, I insisted on staying and they operated on Sunday and the Surgeon told me the Gallbladder had Necrois. If I went home I could have died.
The last time I took my folks to JMWC my mom called after six hours to tell me they just got a room and hoped to see a doctor soon.
Better bring food, a thermos, a jacket, and a cell phone charger, you’re going to need them.
The staff are terrific however.
I just saw that MASK MANDATES are back starting November 1!
WTF WTF WTF!!!
@ Old Otis ~
Not sure if it can be enforced now-a-days.
It will be interesting to see.
maybe 1 year ago. I waited less than 1 hour because of the doctor connection.
During the lockdown, I had the misfortune of going to the VA with a sinus infection. They still required masks at that point, but since I had a fever, they put me into isolation until my Covid test came back negative, about three hours later. Then, I was checked out, given antibiotics and sent on my way.
The funny thing was that they gave me two different Covid tests, the regular one, as well as the quick test. The quick test came back negative in just a few minutes, but they had to wait for the regular test to verify it. Eventually, they switched to the quick test, but that night, I was the Covid test-dummy.
In 2007 Christmas Eve but it was urgent care John Muir in Concord. I had slammed a finger in my car door and I since I depend on my typing ability didn’t want to mess around. The room was filled up and they recommended I come back the the next and I asked “you’re open Christmas” and they replied “sure”. So I came back the next day and the only people there was the nurse and doctor. The doctor just told me to take some Tylenol and I told no I wanted the pressure relieved. Now I had already looked online for how to take care of it myself but didn’t want to take chances. So the doctor took a sowing needle sized drill bit and drilled the hole in the fingernail. She was then aware of how much pressure had built up.
Novembember 2023. Approximately 4 hours. I was in a room then hospitalized.