Voice of the People - February 18, 2009
Be prepared to wait in ER
After reading the Jan. 27 letter from Mr. Villano in The Herald concerning his ordeal at the emergency room at Piedmont Medical Center, I felt compelled to share my story.
On a recent Friday evening I suffered a kidney stone attack. Having a history of kidney stones, I knew exactly what it was. The pain was unbearable. I asked my wife to drive me to the ER at Piedmont, hoping to find some relief from the pain. She suggested that we go to an ER at one of the Charlotte hospitals. However, I told her the pain was so bad I needed to get somewhere quick.
We arrived, checked in and was asked to have a seat in the waiting room. I immediately knew we were in trouble. The room was filled with people coughing, sneezing and flopping all over the place. It appeared that some people had brought five, six, seven people (and infants) with them.
As soon as we found a seat, someone jumped up and vomited in the middle of the floor. This stayed there for at least 30 minutes, probably longer. The entire place was filthy.
After a while I was called back to a small room where someone took my temperature, blood pressure and weight. I was then asked to return to the waiting room. I had my hopes up that it would not be much longer.
After three hours of waiting, I began to walk the halls just to relieve the pain. It was horrible. I was constantly going to the restroom, and the pain seemed to be increasing.
To make a long story short, we arrived at around 8:30 p.m. Friday. At 12:40 a.m. I was called back.
By this time, I had already passed the kidney stone. The doctor said the X-rays did not show a stone in the urinary tract. I laughed to myself saying, "That's because I already passed it while waiting to get back here." After another three hours of lying there with nothing being done, I was told I could go home and to be sure to make an appointment with my urologist. It was now 4 a.m. on Saturday. Almost eight hours after we came in!
Before leaving I made it a point to ask he doctor why the ER was so packed. I pointed out that the majority of the people out there seemed to have colds or flu-like symptoms, nothing life-threatening. Her reply, "Oh it's the economy. Most of those people don't have insurance or doctors or money to pay. They come here because they know we have to treat them."
So, this means that because I have insurance and pay my bills, I'll be charged. (I've already got the bill.) I wonder who is paying for all those other people in the ER? Take a guess!
And I would ask that Piedmont quit sending me the 30-minute wait placards in the mail and take down the billboards. They are deceiving the public.
Mike Faulkenberry
Rock Hill
Sheriff has better things to do
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, formerly chief narcotics officer, hopefully will have some common sense after receiving his 15 minutes of fame publicizing his intent to convict Michael Phelps of smoking a bong. Phelps admitted he had done it. He could have lied, saying it was regular tobacco, or it wasn't in South Carolina, or whatever ... but he told the truth. Sure, it is illegal. I wonder what Mr. Lott had done in his past? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, aye?
Phelps can do and has done far more good than this misstep. He needs to understand that now, as an adult, everything is magnified, especially when in the public eye.
Kent Allen
Rock Hill
Fundraiser was a big success
Thanks to everyone that came out and supported our fund raiser for the South Pointe Football team. Special thanks to Tony Berry for allowing us to use the space at Millwood Plaza; we couldn't have done it with out his generosity.
Also, thanks to all of the volunteers who helped us pull it off. We had a great time and raised a sizable sum of money to go toward the team's championship rings. Thanks also to Barry Byers and The Herald for the press coverage, and also to CN2. We really appreciated all that they did helping us promote our event.
Dan McQueen
Rock Hill
Where is public outcry?
Let me get this straight: The lower the price of crude oil per barrel goes, then gas should go down. Wait a minute, our gas is going up while oil is below $38 a barrel. OK, where is the public outcry?
Steven Stotts
Rock Hill
This story was originally published February 18, 2009 at 2:46 AM with the headline "Voice of the People - February 18, 2009."