Mr. Morse has nothing to do with it but...

The hospital is expanding by about 1/3 in the near future. The number of ER 'beds' are going up by almost double. This should help the situation. But again the real situation is all about numbers. The number of people in TV at this time of year.

I think that every day I work (and have 6 patients on 2nd floor medical) I would guess that 1/2 of them shouldn't have gone to the hospital in the first place. But many of these patients think that they are sicker than they are and insist on being admitted to the floor from ER. I think some of it is traced to doctors who, due mostly to the legal system, would rather just admit the patient and have it be nothing than to not admit and have it be really something (i.e. risk a law suit).

Let's not forget that we have almost 100K people in TV plus another X in outside TV locals + X number of guests from up north. And the vast majority are elderly. If you compare this to your 'hometown' you'll understand why we have so many patients who need our help. If you lived in a town of 100k back north you were probably served by multiple hospitals and at least half of the population was under 30 years old (typical demographics). But down here I would bet 90% are 60 or older. It is simply a numbers game.

And thanks to Mack for understanding and explaining the reason why we ask for info. Sometimes we even do it to make sure that they are 'alert'. I'll often chat to my patients, knowing the info already, but ask them things like "tell me what your medical history is" - or "what Village do you live in" just to judge their cognition level. I don't really need to know, I already have that on file.

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I have read many negitive comments about TVRH in this post.Recently the Hospital Auxiliary conducted a job fair to sign up volunteers,how many of you signed up to help out? To answer the question before its asked,I have volunteered at TVRH in the ER for over 10 years.

That's nice that you volunteer, but volunteers are NOT licensed and/or degreed medical professionals who are the ONLY people who can provide actual medical care. Additional volunteers can do many things but they cannot aleviate slow wait times in the ER due to lack of needed beds, nor can they step in and do nursing or practice medicine. The problem with TVRH is a lack of available beds and necessary professional staff.

Under the mandates of the new Affordable Care Act virtually all hospitals that accept Medicare are going to be squeezed tighter and tighter on their budget lines due to DECREASED reimbursements from the Feds. And since TVRH receives more Medicare dollars per capita than ANY other US hospital they will be squeezed even tighter. Which means the hospital will have to get by with even less PROFESSIONAL staff which will make ER waits and waits for beds even longer.

Volunteers, no matter how many, cannot fix that problem. This is not meant to bad mouth volunteerism, but there are many, many things that they simply cannot do, and what they cannot legally do is where the problem lies.

I took my husband to The Villages Regional Hospital when he said to me "I cannot move and I am in a lot of pain." They reacted quickly, professionally and with great compassion. We were referred to a specialist within the hospital that same day and a priliminary diagnosis was given that proved to be correct after tests results were returned. He was admitted and did receive good care. This was my experience only but it was good. I agree, that EMS should be called first, even though that was not what I did.