Neeley C.
Yelp
My husband was in the emergency room at Skyline in February 2022 for a stroke. We were in the E.R. from around 6pm on a Sunday night to around 3pm the next day.
They took him right back and were attentive at first. We were introduced to several nurses and a doctor. The doctor told me that my husband had a CT scan and that she would be back soon to explain more. In the meantime, my husband's nurse took care of him and several others in our hallway. The Skyline E.R. has only curtains for doors, so you can hear everything going on with everyone around. That setup also doesn't seem good at all for germ control. I listened as the nurses kindly and patiently dealt with many issues with various patients. I was thinking how much respect I had for them for all that they deal with in their daily jobs. There were two different ladies that came by to take blood from my husband. They were both very good at their jobs and very kind. One of them was especially hilarious and really lightened the mood. She had dark hair and her name began with a "Y."
We were told that my husband would be admitted to the hospital overnight for observation. At first, they told us that he would get his room soon. We waited for hours before they finally told us that there were no rooms available because Skyline does not discharge patients on the weekends. They told us that we would get a room when one became available.
Throughout the night, I was afraid to leave my husband's cubicle even to go to the bathroom because I didn't want to miss the doctor coming back to talk to us. Four hours later with no doctor, I started asking the nurse if she could check and see if the doctor was coming back. As it got later into the night, when the nurse would leave, it would be hours before we would see her again. She finally came back and told me something about going to where the doctors stay but not being able to find any. That didn't sound right. We heard a patient across the hall tell one of her relatives that she was told a doctor wouldn't see her until the morning because there were none there overnight. I have to believe that an emergency department has doctors somewhere at all times, even on Sunday nights.
The nurse told us that my husband was not allowed to eat because there were tests he had to do. I told her in the first hour that we were there that he was diabetic and asked if he should be going all night without food. She said they give sugar water to help with this. This was never given as far as I know. Maybe he didn't need it, but they didn't seem to note anywhere that he was diabetic.
A man came to take my husband for an MRI at around 10:30pm. He was very nice. When he brought him back to me, I asked him if he knew when we would have some answers or talk to a doctor. He told me not to hold him to it, but that the MRI would probably be read in 30 or 45 minutes. I didn't expect it to be that quick, but we were still waiting to hear something about my husband's condition more than six hours later.
While my husband was wheeled to his MRI and back, he noticed that there were 8 or 9 emergency room patients in beds lining one hallway. Apparently there was no space for them. We could hear them talking to people walking by. They were sick and lying there in the middle of everything with bright florescent lights in their eyes.
When I was told that my husband could have something to drink, I reluctantly left his cubicle for just a minute. We still hadn't seen that doctor that said she was coming back. We had no test results or any clue what was going on with him. This was five or six hours into our time in the E.R. The nurse said that I would have to go to the waiting room to the vending machine to get him a Diet Coke. The snack vending machine was almost totally empty. In the drink vending machine, the water was sold out. I had enough cash to get my husband's Diet Coke, but not anything else for me. The machine said it took cards, but with both cards I tried, the machine said, "couldn't be read." I was happy that I was able to at least get my sick and hungry husband a Diet Coke.
I didn't miss the doctor while I was gone because she never came back. We didn't see much of the nurse overnight. I was starting to lose my patience, and understandably, so was my husband. When the nurse finally came back again, he told her that if he didn't see a doctor by ten that morning, he was going to leave. Somewhere between 6 and 7 that morning, my husband needed to go to the restroom. We buzzed the nurse and asked her for help. She said okay. We waited for at least ten minutes. He couldn't wait any longer. We ended up having to unhook everything ourselves. We passed by the nurse sitting at the desk talking. She never said anything. Either she was getting back at my husband for being grouchy or she was waiting it out until time for her shift to be over. Whichever one it was, that was very unprofessional.
More to tell, but no more room here.
