How to Handle a Sudden Hospital Emergency
Scenario….You have just received the phone call that your loved one is in the hospital and you are in shock. Feelings of overwhelm come over you, and your biggest fears are happening. Who is going to pick up the kids, how do you get out of work. How do you begin to put all of this together?
Below is a checklist for you to consider before this emergency occurs, don’t worry this is all manageable.
Breathe
- Taking the time to breathe allows you to better assess the situation in order to make good decisions. It may seem a lot worse than it may be in this moment. Take a deep breathe in and feel your body, remember what you are capable of, you can handle this and you are not alone.
Now it is time to gather the facts:
1. Where is your loved one now?
2 . Assess the general situation, how does it affect them and others
3. Does their employer need to know?
4. Does anyone else need to know?
5. Look at your schedule if necessary
- what can you free up, where can you get help?
6. Who can you call to support you? A neighbor or friend to pick up the kids and keep them for awhile
7. Have you given an extra house key to someone who may need to look after your pets, or gather clothes for your children if you must be away for a longer period of time?
8. Gather their medical history
9. Gather medical insurance information, who is their primary care dr.?
10. Grab a pad of paper and 2 pens to take notes
11. Are you their power of attorney (medical, financial) if not who is?
12. When talking to the dr.’s have someone else there with you to catch detail that you may not or ask them to take the notes.
13. Grab snacks in case you are at the dr. or hospital for awhile.
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Great tips Lisa! Definitely an overwhelming situation for people, but with a strategy in place much more manageable!
I love your articles for their practicality Lisa. I can see where I could have several things on your list prepared ahead of time or even duplicated and put in an ‘emergency’ bag along with this list! Good stuff to know.
Lynn
I so love that your first advice is to breathe – a clear and calm spirit will make clear and calm decisions. I am bookmarking this list for my emergency kit – thank you Lisa!
Lisa, this is a great idea to have a list handy what to do in an emergency, It can happen so quickly and that is not a good time to think clearly. I will copy this and put it handy along with my first aid stuff. Thanks for sharing.
Lisa,
While I hope it’s a LONG time before I would need this info, I’m beyond grateful to have it. Thanks for sharing this with us all. Times like that are ones where it is indeed easy to lose your focus and head, so this has been printed out and is on our fridge!
This is an excellent article Lisa! I have experienced this many times over having a daughter with a congenital life threatening illness. I have always been fortunate that when a serious incident occurs I seem to naturally go in to a focused and calm mode. I have seen the reverse many times with other people.
It is really important that we stay calm and this will help people to prepare and reduce panic, stress and anxiety.
xxx
What a useful list, Lisa–particularly including take time to breathe. This seems like a good time to have a kit put together, like a pregnant woman might do towards the end of pregnancy. Just pack up and put everything together so that after you take a breath or two, you can just grab the bag and go.
Thanks so much for this, Lisa! It’s so easy to forget essential needs when under such stress and panic, so these tips are very grounding. I’m so glad you are providing this important service of educating and supporting caregivers.