A Trip to the Hospital Emergency Room with a Senior

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Over the past few years there have been a number of phone calls that resulted in a trip to the emergency room of the hospital. As caregiver to my mother and her older sister, we are the first point of contact when something goes wrong in their home. What once sounded cliche to me has now become a reality.

It started with that late night phone call in 1991 when I heard for the first time, "I've fallen and I can't get up."

After a number of trips to the hospital, I discovered that preparing a medical travel bag with certain items ahead of time can get us on our way faster. And once at the hospital, we have those items that makes the process of a hospital visit more practical. The items I carry in my medical travel bag have proven useful time after time while waiting for the ambulance at the house and when arriving at the emergency room of the hospital.

• A photocopy of the patient's Medical Insurance Card, front and back with the phone numbers and group policy numbers and member's number

• Place a copy of the patient's photo ID in the medical travel bag

The ambulance drivers often take the patient's identification cards with them when they're transported to the hospital. Giving the drivers a photocopy can prevent loss of the original cards.

• Phone numbers of doctors, ministers, friends and relatives in your carry along notebook. In case your cell phone battery dies, you'll have these numbers handy.

• A List of prescription medications that your senior takes, how often they take them, and the exact dosages.
• Have a list of any known allergies or negative reactions to medication.
• List any over-the-counter medicines they take as well.

Having a written list will save you from repeating this information to paramedics, ambulance drivers, doctors and nursing staff.

• A List of previous surgeries what types and the dates of the surgeries, for example, appendicitis -1975).

It is helpful to know the dates of any previous hospital stays and outcome, whether the patient was admitted and the what were the diagnoses.

• Pick up business cards from the Dr.'s office on their next visit; one for your wallet and one for the Emergency Kit.
• Include a good book for long waits at the hospital and to avoid the germ laden, out-of-date magazines in the waiting room.
• Pack some bottled water and a package of crackers. When your wait is really long you'll appreciate having these. It never fails, if you leave the room for even a minute that's when someone comes in with an update.
• Have an extra toothbrush and travel size tooth paste in the bag. This is for you.
• Add some wet wipes or hand sanitizer and a package of tissues.

If you decide to drive your senior to the hospital, be sure to bring along their portable medical equipment like oxygen. When Dad became critically ill, he refused to go to the hospital by ambulance so we drove him to the Emergency Room. In our haste, we left his portable oxygen at home. Naturally the ER was overflowing with people and he had a dreadfully long wait before they finally admitted him to intensive care. Every gasping breath without his oxygen was a nightmare.

If your senior is admitted into the hospital, you'll most likely want to talk with the attending doctor. Sometimes they make their rounds near midnight so you might be waiting a while. Once you've spent hour hours in the Emergency Room waiting for your senior to get X-rays taken, blood work drawn and numerous other procedures, you'll want to stick around and find out what's going on.

In the hopeful possibility that your senior is not admitted to the hospital, you'll want to bring along their medical equipment like walkers or wheel chairs. They'll need these items when they're ready to go home.

Taking a few moments ahead of time to assemble a Medical Travel Bag will reduce some of the stress that goes hand in hand with trips to the hospital. The best hope is that you won't ever need it.