Emergency Room FAIL

[trouble]

I had to take Don to Emerg last night (A&E, I think, in UK & Aus). He's (relatively speaking!) okay. (You can read it here, but the key thing is that he was injured enough that we headed straight for Emerg, but not so much that we didn't walk the five or so blocks, rather than call someone to get us there.)

During construction, they've taken out parts of the sidewalk.

So, to get to Emerg, one needs to notice (in a stressful situation) that the sidewalk has been taken out, preferably before taking a wheelchair all the way to that point, which is a good... 30ish feet from where one can take a wheelchair safely off the sidewalk.

One then needs to go into the road - the road used by ambulances and cars trying to get to Emerg, so people who may either be driving quickly, or who are also very stressed - down those 30 feet, and then turn into an area we couldn't see.
( Read more... )

Slightly unrelated, but what's the state of 'terps in your area? There was no signage anywhere indicating that terp service was available, but I'm not sure if that means there isn't or not. (I'll be asking this when I call Patient Services.)

When I was working in Australia, there were strict rules about not letting a family member interpret unless it was impossible to get an interpreter wthin a certain period of time, and even then they'd be still trying to get someone not-related while they dealt with what had to be done. It's because it's a stressful situation.

room 840 in the marriott downtown, los angeles

[archersangel]

first let me say that neither my brother or i are disabled & wouldn't have taken this "accessible room" but it was the only one that was available.

point 1; the door was standard width & i had trouble wheeling my wheeled duffel over the threshold, so i imagine it would be hard for someone in a wheelchair.

point 2; the room itself was small, with only about 18-20 inches between the beds. about a foot between the bed on the right and the wall for the bathroom. the bed on the left was about 2 1/2 feet from the window, but there was a big armchair by the head of the bed. there was a good deal of space from the foot of the beds to the TV & desk.

point 3; the bathroom did have a rail by the toilet, but the toilet was in an alcove between the shower & bathroom wall. there was a rail in the shower, but it was a standard bathtub. the sink wasn't a vanity, but it seemed too high for someone in a wheelchair to use & the mirror didn't go all of the way down behind it.

so other than the rails, i saw little that would make this an "accessible room."