Parking conditions/hospitals

I can hardly believe this!

First, a bit of background... my friend in London were out the other day walking her two huge dogs. She drives to Hampstead Heath to walk them there. Unfortunately, she twisted her foot and broke it. Luckily she had brought her cell phone, so she could ring her husband - he had to cycle out there, as she had the car. The dogs stayed close to her all the time. :) She sat in wet grass (early morning) for an hour, and he got the car and they drove the dogs back, then off to the hospital.

Now, this is ridiculous!! She told me that it was not allowed to park near the emergency entrance, not even for 2 min! How the h”#l do they expect injured people to get in there?? There were several ambulances waiting there, but no help from them!

Also, a while back, a man drove his bleeding wife to the emergency room, and got a parking ticket!!

Not only that... she got a plaster put on in a way so there was room for the swelling to continue, and she was told that it should be changed in 5 days, to a tighter one - BUT, she was also told they didn’t have time to do it until in 2 weeks time!! :rolleyes: :mad:

I wonder how parking conditions is in such situations in USA?

It depends on the hospital, but normally there are parking spaces and drop off lanes VERY close to the entrance of the ER. I have also been told by hospital staff at one local hospital to not worry about anything other than a hadnicapped or ambulance spot. If there is an issue they page the owner of the vehicle and ask them to move it. They only give parking tickets to people who are REALLY ignorant about how they park.

Parking seems to be pretty good at the hospital I will be delivering at..... But if I go into labour before 8 pm I'm supposed to go in the visitors entrance because then i can just go right up to the maternity floor and check myself in and not have to worry about getting stuck going through emerg lol. the only thing is it's an uphill walk.... not a really steep incline but enough that when I am in labour I am not gonna feel like hill climbing hehehe.

When I take Dad to the ER (which unfortuantely, is a fairly common occurence), I go to the ambulance area. There are 5 slots, with the door at one end. I park at the far one (in slot 5), get Dad in, tell the receptionist he is there (even though she always scowls at me because I am supposed to wait in line and I am interrupting her interveiw of the person she is sitting with) and go move the car.

That is what one hospital does. At another hospital, you have to park and "hike" to the ER. They said that if you don't need an ambulance, you can hike in. They actually prefer that you take an ambulance, and also, you get seen to immediately when you arrive in ambulance.

The hospitals here, if notified once you are there, will provide a wheel
chair to get the patient inside to visit a Doctor.Since I know nothing about
treating a broken bone, I can't really comment on the treatment, but it does
sound strange to wait so long for a permanent cast.

One of our local hospitals offers "valet parking"!!! You pull up to the entrance (visitor or ER) and they will have a valet park your car for you. Of course, the service is not offered 24 hours a day. I think it ends when visiting hours end.

Last weekend, a friend of mine drive herself to the ER for a recurring problem that she has, which results in a severe migraine for her. She called me around midnight to ask if I could pick her up since the ER doctor wouldn't let her drive home (thank goodness he didn't as she was not doing well at all). We had to leave her truck parked in the ER spaces. We just told the security guard, and he said it would be fine. We went the next day to pick it up! And she was parked in a spot very close to the ER entrance!

I have never had any problems with parking near an ER entrance. I only problem I see with most of our hospitals, is that there just isnt enough parking spaces.

the hospital group i work for here has 3 hospitals. in all of them, there is a patient drop off right in front of the emergency dept doors, not the trauma bay where the ambulances are. you pull up, and someone is out there within seconds, often a security guy followed by a nurse aid with a wheelchair. the patient goes in, and the driver goes to park, and not all that far away, in a designated lot with a special paper for the dashboard. to pick up a patient, you go to a smaller side door, very near the er, a security/volunteer is there to bring back the wheelchair,you load and go. competing chains have
a similar set up.
randi, how is your friend doing and what did they do with the dogs while she was at the hospital, and thank goodness she brought her cellphone

It certainly seems that parking conditions in USA are a lot better than in England! Good grief - I'm appalled! :eek: They must have picked the worst hospital in London! And telling that she needs the plaster changed in 5 days and then..... "We don't have time to do it before in 2 weeks!" :rolleyes:

Well, at least, my friend is doing reasonable, she got a laptop last week, so that will keep her occupied without having to move around. :) But it's not so good that the bedroom and bathroom is upstairs, she has to climb a steep narrow staircase. :(

Joycenalex, they took the dogs home before they went to the hospital.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Randi

They took the dogs home before they went to the hospital.

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:cool:
GOOD FurrParents - First things first. ;)

:D

As for the emergency entrance, there is a parking lot there, only to be used for emergencies. But the general entrance is almost 10 minutes walking from the general parking :( . When I went in for my surgery, I had so much trouble to walk so far. There is a possibility to rent a wheelchair for those who need it. I was to stubbern to use one.... :rolleyes: :(

When I checked myself into Yale New Haven Hospital, my car sat in the Emergency parking lot for a week till I was discharged. All I needed to do was call security and let them know the situation, my car make and plate #.

I guess every hospital policy is different. Hope your friend is okay.