Last night between 7:30-12 p.m. was my first experience with the ER here and I was not impressed. I took my fiance who was dehydrated and having a major panic attack, we got sent to the back immediately, however, we only got checked on every hour. Both of us constantly asked anyone passing by for water or a doctor to come help us as soon as possible, but everytime we were told they would go get someone, they ended up in another part of the ER acting like they forgot about us. At least a small "I can't help you right now but someone will come by soon" would have been nice but apparently we weren't very important. And right after we gave up trying to get someone to come over to us, another nurse sits down at the desk next to us and complains about how bored she is... if you're so bored then you should probably help people who are sitting here, not complaining. It's an ER there is ALWAYS something to do. Meanwhile, an ambulance arrived with someone in cardiac arrest and they were reviving them. Unfortunately they passed in the ambulance so there was nothing they could do. Once it was announced to the staff, a woman who was in the room with this patient starts calling the coroner's office to make arrangements, but I hear her laughing about the situation on the phone and with the staff which is 100% inappropriate and disrespectful, and quite frankly upset me to the point I'm still thinking about it all day today and probably won't ever forget it. I've seen death, and I understand doctors and nurses dont get emotional when these things happen because they're used to it, but a little courtesy for the people around who just witnessed what happened would have helped. The staff started talking about the family who was there and got worried they hadn't left yet while they were talking badly about them. Keep in mind there are also children here, who have probably never seen this happen before, and now their only impression of if this were to happen to them they would just get made fun of which is sad. Finally about 4 hours later our doctor finally came to help us. He was super sweet and had just been in the room with the patient who passed away so I understood what was taking him so long (none of the staff informed us our doctor was in this situation at the time but a little communication would have helped us be more patient). And I could tell he was bothered by losing someone he was trying to save because he is a decent human being, unlike the woman making the phone calls and the rest of the staff. He gave us great advice for what to do when this happens again and I was happy with his help. The sad part is that he was 1 out of about 15-20 different nurses/doctors we tried to talk to that actually helped us. And knowing what he just went through I appreciate him helping us. But with so many people in there not willing to do anything for a patient in an EMERGENCY ROOM, why would it be called an emergency if it's being treated like it's no big deal? This was the first and LAST time I ever go here. If my emergency is of no importance to them then we'll find somewhere else who actually cares.
