Health Care That Works . . .
I welcome guest writer Sue Bridwell Beckham . . .
On the other hand, my husband Dick, who also has a few health problems, among them a congenital heart arrhythmia for which he is required to take blood thinners visits England regularly—and he’s on Medicare which does not insure beyond the US borders.
A couple weeks ago, Oct. 1, 2009, Dick fell on an irregular curb in Sidmouth on the South Coast of England. He received several cuts and abrasions and was bleeding profusely—enough that the bystanders called 999 (British equivalent of 911). A small ambulance arrived within 5 minutes of the call. The knowledgeable and friendly nurse EMT did immediate first aid and loaded us both into his vehicle to take us to our lodging. There, in the lounge of the bed and breakfast, he dressed the wounds and instructed us to call in at the local “cottage hospital” next morning. When I asked about a fee, he replied “It’s all free here.” and left.
On Friday, we went to the Sidmouth “Minor Injury Unit” where we had a fine conversation in the waiting room and met Shirley the nurse who would become our best friend for the next two days. She took the dressings off and redressed the wounds – except one. When she removed the bandage from the very small puncture wound on Dick’s left hand, she found it bleeding profusely. Efforts to stop the bleeding failed and she called a doctor in for consultation. He was equally stymied. So went the rest of Friday and much of Saturday: in and out of the Sidmouth cottage hospital trying different remedies for bleeding and finding that within an hour all dressings were a bloody mess.
Finally, the Sidmouth staff had to give up and sent us to the Exeter A & E (Accident and Emergency –ER in the States). Since I don’t drive in England, we hired a cab each way which cost us 60 pounds (about $100 in dollars). At the A & E, Dick got excellent care. The unit was not as glitzy, not as full of chrome and glass as in the US, but he got continuous, efficient, friendly attention in a clean and responsive atmosphere—and most of all the treatment was successful.
When we left at 2 a.m., the bleeding apparently stopped, we were advised to visit nurse Shirley one more time on Saturday morning. Shirley removed the bandages and NO Blood! What remained was to remove the seaweed coagulant – she needed about 25 minutes to do that--and then to redress the cut. We continued our trip with advice to see a nurse in the Minor Injury Unit where we would stay in Cornwall and get the dosage for Dick’s blood thinner checked. In Helston, Cornwall, a private physician stayed into her lunch hour to consult with Dick about his meds. For that, since it was not emergency, we paid 18 pounds (about $27).
That was it. All the rest was the right of any British citizen and any visitor to the United Kingdom. My friend’s mother still cannot be admitted to the United States. How I wish we had such a humane and effective system here. We can learn much from the health care systems in other nations—and with American ingenuity, we could make ours even better.
Sue Bridwell Beckham
River Falls, WI
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