Anything Can Happen … and Emergencies May Occur
When I was in my mid-40s, long before I became a caregiver officially, I went to a health spa for a one-week stay to focus on myself and try to address the weight that seemed to be piling on. It was a wonderful week in the mountains above Santa Barbara, California, in a magical place called Ojai. There were lots of interesting women there, all working hard on our individual issues, and enjoying the water aerobics, daily yoga classes and personal evaluations to help us keep on track.
Two of the women I met were a mother and daughter pair, Judy and Norma, spending time together and working on their health. We dined together several times on the 1,000-calorie spa food, and had laughed and joked about how we’d like to have a glass of wine (but couldn’t)! Norma had been through recent surgery and was recovering, and seemed to be doing fairly well. It was the first time I had every heard of or seen a port. But she had one, and I could see the little lump just below her upper right clavicle area, which she kept covered with a loosely fitting blouse.
One morning at 6:30 am (spa activities stared at the crack of dawn), I was leaving my room and I saw Judy in the soft morning darkness of the hallway. I asked quietly where Norma was, and she said she wouldn’t be joining the early morning yoga class that morning because she wasn’t feeling well. Judy looked distraught, and I could sense that things were not good.
So I asked her what the problem was, and she started babbling that Norma felt dizzy and couldn’t even stand up. Judy was afraid there might be something really wrong. I asked her if she’d talked with the spa staff, and she said she had, but they hadn’t sent anyone yet to check on her condition yet. I felt a rising panic inside, and jumped into action. My fight or flight instincts are strong and in good working order, even today!
Instead of fooling around with calling the front desk, I marched right down there, and demanded to speak with whomever was in charge. They were so slow! I finally gained access to a manager-level staff member, and promptly explained the situation. She was way too easy going about it in my opinion, so I escalated my approach to threat level.
Me: The guest in room 326 is feeling very poorly; her daughter called the front desk, but no one has come to the room yet to check on her condition.
Person in charge: There’s really not anything we can do.
Me (still being nice): There’s no nurse or CNA here on staff who can check on her? I know she’s recently had surgery and is recovering; I’m worried that something may be really wrong.
Person in charge (still not rising to the occasion, still in excuse-making mode): No – we don’t have anyone on staff like that.
Me (getting more agitated): Well, how about a doctor on call? I really think that she needs to be checked out.
Person in charge (continuing to avoid doing anything): No – we don’t have any system like that.
Me (completely flabbergasted and going into freak out mode): Okay – well then I think you’d better call 911 NOW, unless you want to take the chance of having one of your guests DIE at your spa! You’re going to risk getting SUED!!! This is REALLY SERIOUS!!!
FINALLY, the EMTs came and sure enough, she needed fast medical attention. Norma’s medications were unbalanced, and the course of dialysis treatments (for which the port was used), were out of sync due to traveling. Norma really could have died – or slipped into a coma. Judy rode in the ambulance with her, and a crisis was averted. But they left the spa shortly thereafter to get Norma back to her home environment and regular medical team.
What was supposed to be an idyllic week of rest and relaxation turned into a nightmare for them.