Saturday, December 26, 2020

TERROR IN THE HOSPITAL SEEKING HELP TO FIGHT COVID 19

 MY VISIT TO MONTEFIORE HOSPITAL IN THE BRONX TO COMBAT MY COVID 19 SYMPTOMS WAS UNACCEPTABLE AND AGAINST ALL THE EFFORTS THAT THE HONORABLE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK ANDREW M. CUOMO AND HIS COLLABORATORS HAVE MADE TO HELP US FIGHT THIS DEADLY VIRUS.

 

On December 21, 2020, I called the New York State Helpline for Covid 19. 103 fever and a persistent cough stopped me from talking. The service I received was excellent and immediate. The doctor suggested I should go to a hospital. On December 23, 2020, my medical conditions worsened, 8 days fighting by myself against the virus, I ran out of Tylenol and had no choice but to go to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. I took Uber services and arrived at the hospital around 10:30 a.m. A nurse took my temperature and then I was left alone. The mask wouldn't let me breathe and I felt like I was choking on the cough. People passing by my side ignored me. I asked the security guard for help and he suggested I go out to the ambulance parking lot. The cold weather allowed me to be there for short time.

 At 12 p.m. finally I was taken to a room and I received two Tylenol. I was sitting in an awkward chair and my legs started hurting me. Two hours later, since no one was coming to check me out, I left the room to complain about the long waiting time. The people at the front desk seemed surprised to have forgotten me. A man came and took me for an X-ray of my chest. After that I was left in the orange zone assigned to patients of Covid-19. I met a woman who was confirmed for Covid and she became a great helper for me and others.

 Suddenly, a woman my age came to the orange zone. She was terrified seeing me so sick and without medical attention. She said she came to the hospital for back pain and they assumed she was positive for Covid without proof. My friend suggested she should take the test. The woman ran away very scared. An hour later another woman came, and the same thing happened, she had been sent to the infected area just for suspicion.

 Over the hours, my health got worse. My good bandmate friend brought a portable chair so I could stretch my numb legs because of my varicose problem. She asked some nurses to help me, but no one listened.  Because of the cough I couldn't hold my urine and my pants were soaked. Later, a nurse called me from the free Covid green area across the hallway. I was in shock fearing spreading the virus among patients. I told the nurse that I was infected, but she was laughing at me. She put on my finger the blood oxygen meter by removing the vital signs monitor from another nurse.

 This miserable woman gave me a walk around the roundabout where the doctors were. At one point the portable monitor went off carelessly and someone passing by turned it on. She gave me a tour by the area of virus-free patients, and some didn't have the mask in place. I felt like a dog dragged by a leash on my finger while the nurse mocked at me.

 About to turn 8 hours of being begging for medical attention, I gave up. I started screaming desperately for my discharge. Someone young told me the doctor was coming soon because the emergency wasn't too busy. There was no reason to continue suffering and infecting patients passing by the Covid band side to enter other departments. There was a plastic curtain but had a big open space. I didn't know the result of my X-ray and when I was discharged someone told me it was fine. This has been my worst experience in a hospital.

  


 








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