I want to tell you a story that happened many years ago, as recently as today and will happen again tomorrow. It is a story about a deceptively familiar place where securing the basic necessities of life, health care, housing, transportation and communication, requires persistence to overcome one obstacle after another. I call this place “The Parallel Universe.”
The moment she arrived, the case worker (we’ll call her Maureen), sensed something was wrong. The front door stood wide open while Skippy wandered unattended around the front yard. Maureen trotted up the front steps, announced her arrival in a loud voice and hurried through the empty living room and kitchen with Skippy hard on her heels. They found Trila lying face-down on her unmade bed. Hearing her name, Trila opened her eyes and tried to roll over. Maureen saw the tell-tale drooping cheek of a stroke and immediately dialed 911. She remained bedside until the EMTs transported Trila to the nearest emergency room.
My husband and I had returned from Los Angeles at midnight the previous evening, so I was doing laundry when the ER called to inform me Trila was suffering from a brain bleed and was being loaded into a Care Flight even as we spoke for transport to a hospital in the Ohio State University system.
“Give the medical staff an hour to get her settled, then call this number,” the ER doctor instructed.
The phone number reached the operator who put me on HOLD (of course) while she looked up Trila’s name and room number, confirmed the hospital unit where she was resting and connected me with the right nurses’ station where my Medical Power of Attorney was confirmed paving the way for an exchange of information.
The whole time Trila was in Columbus, I received twice daily updates on her condition and was invited to ask questions which were answered on the spot. By mid-week Trila had been assigned a bed in a rehab and long-term care unit and transported by ambulance to her temporary new home. Two days later an observant nurse realized Trila was unable to swallow or walk without staggering and ordered an emergency return to Columbus. This time she was assigned to the Neurological ICU in the OSU Wexner Medical Center.
The Three Cheers of today’s column are for the men and women in the health care system with which Trila is associated who gave her the attention she needed from the initial 911 call, through her emergency flight and transport to and from Columbus right up until she landed in the appropriate rehab facility. From start to finish, ours was an experience of standing on level ground where Trila’s dignity as a human being was respected and valued. All the details required to locate and enroll her in an appropriate long-term care rehab facility were handled by professionals. Without these dedicated souls I would have been up the proverbial creek without a paddle, unsure what to do next.
Today after 22 months of hard-won domestic self-sufficiency in a place of her own, Trila is once again forced by circumstances beyond her control to relocate, this time to enter a long-term memory care facility. But, for two amazing weeks we were spared the usual cul-de-sacs and barriers inherent in the Parallel Universe: absence of a car, cell phone, personal computer and internet service, inadequate funds and the sinking feeling which accompanies the statement your insurance won’t cover that. Instead, Trila was met with a depth of compassion and concern seldom experienced in the Parallel Universe.
Though no one asked us to do so, Trila and I give our experience with Ohio’s Health Care system a grateful, heartfelt TEN!
* To protect their identity, Trila is a composite of several women. All the stories are true and describe my experience as companion in each case.
