[mommieswamie]

Christmas day I woke up quite sick, knowing that a problem that I had ignored for several months was now very serious. Not wishing to spoil Christmas for my family, I drove myself to the ER, managed to park my car and get myself into the hospital ER. My wait time - 15 seconds!! NO this was not a dream - it was reality and NO I was not at The Villages hospital. I was in Greenville, SC, where prior to going to the ER, I registered online using their check-in site called "inquicker.com". If you look at this website, you will see that many hospital ERs are now using this online check-in method to avoid wait times.

After being seen in the ER in Greenville, I was admitted for a severe infection - Cellulitis on both legs. After my hospital stay in Greenville, I returned home to The Villages. The day after returning home, I knew I was still sick. So I called my doctor - granted it was late at night. He told me that he was going to admit me, but he wanted me to go in through the ER for immediate treatment. After waiting 7 hours in the ER waiting room, in severe pain, I got out my IPad and looked at "inquicker.com". The closest hospital that used that check-in procedure was in Tampa. I saw that I could check-in online for that hospital and be seen 45 minutes from the time that I was looking at the website. It crossed my mind briefly to check-in online, get in the car and drive to Tampa to be seen immediately. Instead, I waited another 4 hours to even get a room in the ER, then almost another 12 to my hospital room. During this time, I told every staff member that I saw about "inquicker.com". I also made the decision, that if a doctor ever tells me again that they are going to admit me, but I need to go in through the ER, the answer will be - either a direct admit or I will go to another hospital and will, of course, end up with another doctor.

Now with regard to EMS services for prompt treatment in the ER (Apparently EMS services have options as to what they do with you when they take you to the hospital) I recently had a kidney stone. I did not know that it was a kidney stone at the time. All I knew was that I had pain at a 10+. Paramedics arrived and I was "lucky" enough to get a crew with one member with an "attitude". He did not like the way I answer one of his questions - mind you I am in 10+ pain - so he said that unless I "cooperated" with him by answering his question to his satisfaction, he would just take me to the ER and "dump me in the waiting room where I could wait for 7 hours with everyone else".

Inpatient in The Villages hospital, I have had excellent treatment.

Just some of my recent experiences. Granted everyone's experiences are different.