[Challenger]

Originally Posted by Mack184

As Packard used to say.."Ask the man who owns one.." In this case..ask and or at least have the intelligence to LISTEN to the man who works there. The constant carping about TVRH and the "something MUST be done" whines come from people who don't have the foggiest notion how an ER works and what happens behind the doors. I'm sorry you have have to wait and I'm sorry you're going to miss your sacred tee-time or your table at Katie Belle's because you had to wait while people who REALLY need instant-stat treatment go before you.

Something MUST be done. I've told you before what MUST be done..It requires a VAST infusion of cash to build new beds and add a significant amount of staff. It's not going to happen without it. So go ahead and whine all you want, and stamp your feet and holler that "Something MUST be done" and continue to live in your ignorance of how hospitals and ERs work.

People like Russ bust their butts to take care of you. And..unless lots and lots and LOTS of money start getting donated to TVRH, you are NOT going to see any change because TVRH gets fully 88% of it's revenue stream from Medicare and their reimbursements to ALL hospitals are falling at unprecedented rates which leaves TVRH with a VERY thin operating margin.

As Russ & I have both said in the past TVRH has a limited amount of bed space to fill an ever-growing population. It's only going to get worse and not better.

My sentiments exactly

[TomOB]

I crashed my car yesterday. My wife has a severe chest pains and we spent many hours in The Village Regional Hospital waiting for her to be seen. Actually 8 hours from when she was brought in by ambulance until she got a room in the ER. Would have been longer until I told them that if they are too busy they should go on bypass and I wanted and inter hospital transport...then they got here a CAT scan and a Dr. The hospital was good for 20k people, but now that we are at over 100K it is time to build another hospital or two or put TVRH on bypass. The halls were lined with people and when the shift changed the new triage nurse finally called in more Dr.s. We need better care than the Marcus Welby experience that is being advertised.

[jetro]

Although the people you described were in dire need of medical attention, the fact is there are others who are being treated first because one, their heart has stopped beating; two, the CANNOT breathe; 3, they are bleeding out. These are priorities in the ER. The men and women who work there are overworked and they are understaffed. Even though we are an aging community, this problem is not limited to The Villages.

[Mack184]

Originally Posted by jetro

Although the people you described were in dire need of medical attention, the fact is there are others who are being treated first because one, their heart has stopped beating; two, the CANNOT breathe; 3, they are bleeding out. These are priorities in the ER. The men and women who work there are overworked and they are understaffed. Even though we are an aging community, this problem is not limited to The Villages.

Absolutely 100% correct. The problem is most of the people who post on this subject don't want to hear the truth.

However..the problem within TV is more acute than in other places because the revenue stream that TVRH has to rely on is Medicare and their reimbursements are falling quickly, that leaves TVRH with a very thin operating line.

The average hospital gets about 36-38% of it's revenue from Medicare. At TVRH it's 88%..the highest of ANY hospital in the USA.

[perrjojo]

Originally Posted by jetro

Although the people you described were in dire need of medical attention, the fact is there are others who are being treated first because one, their heart has stopped beating; two, the CANNOT breathe; 3, they are bleeding out. These are priorities in the ER. The men and women who work there are overworked and they are understaffed. Even though we are an aging community, this problem is not limited to The Villages.

I don't think anyone doubts that the most urgent cases are first to be treated and that is as it should be. I think we are just wanting to have our medical sitituation improve in The Villages.

[shcisamax]

Originally Posted by Mack184

Absolutely 100% correct. The problem is most of the people who post on this subject don't want to hear the truth.

However..the problem within TV is more acute than in other places because the revenue stream that TVRH has to rely on is Medicare and their reimbursements are falling quickly, that leaves TVRH with a very thin operating line.

The average hospital gets about 36-38% of it's revenue from Medicare. At TVRH it's 88%..the highest of ANY hospital in the USA.

i don't know if anyone read the Newsweek magazine that was pretty much entirely about the costs of healthcare and more to the point about hospital costs. What was an eye opener was that even at medicare reimbursement, hospitals are profitable.

[shrink]

I have to respond to this post. I have been a volunteer at the admitting desk of TV ED. I too have seen what you saw, and it is heartbreaking. I know the other part of this story that many don't realize. What happens is that the beds in the back, where the sick people are brought to see the doctors, get full. Ambulances are pulling in (you don't see that) with critical patients aboard. I've seen it where every single bed and every available hallway space has a patient in it. At any given time, as many as half of those people have been "stuck" in emergency department beds for hours and hours waiting to be admitted to hospital beds upstairs, and there are none available! They cannot be discharged from the ED bed until a hospital bed opens up, thus, there is no place to which to bring those sick people in the waiting room. That's why the planned bed expansion in the hospital is so vital in every respect. You may not realize it, but the folks working in the emergency department feel very compassionately about those poor sick people waiting to be seen. It's an extremely frustrating situation which should be largely alleviated when the expansion is completed.

[Mikeod]

Originally Posted by shrink

I have to respond to this post. I have been a volunteer at the admitting desk of TV ED. I too have seen what you saw, and it is heartbreaking. I know the other part of this story that many don't realize. What happens is that the beds in the back, where the sick people are brought to see the doctors, get full. Ambulances are pulling in (you don't see that) with critical patients aboard. I've seen it where every single bed and every available hallway space has a patient in it. At any given time, as many as half of those people have been "stuck" in emergency department beds for hours and hours waiting to be admitted to hospital beds upstairs, and there are none available! They cannot be discharged from the ED bed until a hospital bed opens up, thus, there is no place to which to bring those sick people in the waiting room. That's why the planned bed expansion in the hospital is so vital in every respect. You may not realize it, but the folks working in the emergency department feel very compassionately about those poor sick people waiting to be seen. It's an extremely frustrating situation which should be largely alleviated when the expansion is completed.

I know you're correct that the ED personnel don't feel any better about the situation than we do. And I hope the expansion brings some relief to the situation. A part of me, though, is concerned that by the time the approvals from the state and feds are completed, plans are developed, bids are sought and approved, and construction is completed, we and the surrounding communities will again have grown so that we have the same problem with more people than the facility can handle. I really hope I'm wrong on this one.

[KyWoman]

I recently discovered another reason for the overcrowded ER. My father is having symptoms that may indicate he has a partial bowel obstruction, so we tried to get an appointment with a gastroenterologist. I was told to take him to the ER.....not because his condition was an emergency, but because they were unable to see him for at least a month and his symptoms indicated that he needed to be seen before then. Patients are not the only ones abusing the system.

We are seeking treatment outside of The Villages.

[gpirate]

Originally Posted by perrjojo

I have heard horror stories about our hospital emergency room but I got to experience it first hand last night. My husband has been having problems with asthma and saw our doctor on Tuesday. He was given meds and told to come back if he got worse. Last night he SUDDENLY got worse. We called the doctor but got no response. The Urgent Care office was closed sooooooo we went to the ER. He was promptly called back and had his vitals checked and then told to go back and wait in the lobby. After a while patients started getting restless and comparing stories. One woman had come in and they inserted an IV and told her she would be getting interveinous antibiotics. That was 10 hours earlier. One man was bleeding and needed sutures and had been waiting 5 hours. There were two very elderly people in wheelchairs who were on oxygen and were so weak that they could not hold their heads up. One of them had been there so long his oxygen tank had run out so they gave him another tank. One man was very frail and in a wheelchair and had been there alone for a very long time and needed to go to the restroom so the bleeding man assisted him to the toilet. One man covered in blankets and in a wheelchair looked very ill but his family finally gave up since he could no longer sit up and left. I don't know where they went. Several more gave up and left and several more came in. The last person coming in was told it might be a 24 hour wait. My husband decided he was not going to die unless he stayed there, so we too left. He suffered through the night and he saw our doctor this morning. I know Emergency rooms are busy and crowed but this was shameful. I might add that while my husband and I were concerned for his well being, my heart was breaking for some very sick and very elderly people who just really shouldn't be left sitting in a waiting room for hours on end. I hope they are doing well today.

Very sad to hear about this. We have been planning our move to TV but these stories and you are not the first have slowed our plans in moving. As we get older we need to be able to get into a doctor for care. I live in Columbus, Ga and we may have to wait if not serious but never over an hour. I cannot imagine the people in TV cannot voice their complaints as a unit and get results. Have any of you tried to band together and correct the problem?

[gpirate]

Originally Posted by shrink

I have to respond to this post. I have been a volunteer at the admitting desk of TV ED. I too have seen what you saw, and it is heartbreaking. I know the other part of this story that many don't realize. What happens is that the beds in the back, where the sick people are brought to see the doctors, get full. Ambulances are pulling in (you don't see that) with critical patients aboard. I've seen it where every single bed and every available hallway space has a patient in it. At any given time, as many as half of those people have been "stuck" in emergency department beds for hours and hours waiting to be admitted to hospital beds upstairs, and there are none available! They cannot be discharged from the ED bed until a hospital bed opens up, thus, there is no place to which to bring those sick people in the waiting room. That's why the planned bed expansion in the hospital is so vital in every respect. You may not realize it, but the folks working in the emergency department feel very compassionately about those poor sick people waiting to be seen. It's an extremely frustrating situation which should be largely alleviated when the expansion is completed.

Then why are we not building more facilities to accomodate the over flow? They keep building homes but forget about the rest? Lets get real here folks if they continue to add homes and do nothing about ER it will only get worse IMO. What am I missing?

[Deerfly]

Spent Sunday afternoon there. Questioned by an RN and then escorted to a room and hooked up to all the bells and whistles. They took blood. (Actually quite a bit) and it was sent for analysis. I laid there for three hours while it was tested. Dr. returned, gave me some advise, changed one of my prescriptions and I was released.
Last time I was in the Villages ER was 9 years ago with about 40 others, most of whom looked like they had bad colds. Didn't know what was wrong with me.
Dr. came in and spent about 30 seconds looking around and then came directly to me, first. Talked a little. He sent me for an X-ray. One lung 100% blocked, the other 80%. Had a staff infection I received from a Dr.'s office in Ocala and spent 15 days in the hospital, 5 of it in IC.
I have absolutely nothing but good words for The Villages ER. Maybe next time it won't be so hot but so far it was VERY good.

[mulligan]

Originally Posted by gpirate

Then why are we not building more facilities to accomodate the over flow? They keep building homes but forget about the rest? Lets get real here folks if they continue to add homes and do nothing about ER it will only get worse IMO. What am I missing?

Who is this "they" that should build hospitals ?

[Talk Host]

Hello everybody. Remember me? Well, I don't live in the Villages any longer, but I wanted to jump in and relate my final experience at the Villages ER. The memory will live with me for a long time.
As we were preparing to move, I was loading some stuff on a utility trailer and I slipped on wet metal and fell from the trailer to the ground with my right hand bent completely in to my wrist under my chest. I was ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that it was broken. The pain was excruciating.

Off we went to the Villages ER, where we waited several painful hours before I made a minor scene at the admissions desk. Funny thing, I was next.

Once inside, they took an X ray of my wrist and to my great relief it wasn't broken. The doc asked me the pain level on a scale of 0 to 10. I told him it was as close to a 9 as you can get.

He said, we'll take care of that pain right away, I'll be right back. 1/2 hour later, I got off the bed and went looking for the doctor. I found him standing at the nurses station, laughing at some jokes that had just been told. He was in a real relaxed state with elbows on the counter and his one foot crossed behind the other.

I said, "Hey Doctor, remember me, 9+ pain waiting for you to help me?" He said, "Oh, the nurse was just coming in with some medication." I said,"Ya right, enjoy your jokes."

about 10 minutes later she came with a pill in a cup and 11 minutes later, I was dressed and head for home.

That's my story. Hard for me to forget even when their defenders here post reasonable arguments about why it is the way it is.

I am now sitting on the board of directors of a large hospital/health care group. As a director, I will do my best to use this example as what not to allow in any of our emergency rooms.

JLK

[OnTrack]

Originally Posted by Talk Host

Hello everybody. Remember me? Well, I don't live in the Villages any longer, but I wanted to jump in and relate my final experience at the Villages ER. The memory will live with me for a long time.
As we were preparing to move, I was loading some stuff on a utility trailer and I slipped on wet metal and fell from the trailer to the ground with my right hand bent completely in to my wrist under my chest. I was ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that it was broken. The pain was excruciating.

Off we went to the Villages ER, where we waited several painful hours before I made a minor scene at the admissions desk. Funny thing, I was next.

Once inside, they took an X ray of my wrist and to my great relief it wasn't broken. The doc asked me the pain level on a scale of 0 to 10. I told him it was as close to a 9 as you can get.

He said, we'll take care of that pain right away, I'll be right back. 1/2 hour later, I got off the bed and went looking for the doctor. I found him standing at the nurses station, laughing at some jokes that had just been told. He was in a real relaxed state with elbows on the counter and his one foot crossed behind the other.

I said, "Hey Doctor, remember me, 9+ pain waiting for you to help me?" He said, "Oh, the nurse was just coming in with some medication." I said,"Ya right, enjoy your jokes."

about 10 minutes later she came with a pill in a cup and 11 minutes later, I was dressed and head for home.

That's my story. Hard for me to forget even when their defenders here post reasonable arguments about why it is the way it is.

I am now sitting on the board of directors of a large hospital/health care group. As a director, I will do my best to use this example as what not to allow in any of our emergency rooms.

JLK

I applaud your honesty.

The folks at your new position are lucky to have you.


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