I just want you all to know that I believe Grace’s story saved my mom’s life.
I took her to the hospital last fall when she had a fall and needed to be seen regarding some hip pain she was having. She is on Medicaid/Medicare in Mn. When we got to the hospital, they did a Covid test, of course, and told us that would take until 8:00 pm and they had to send it to a different hospital. That was my first indication something was up. Next, they did a chest X-ray and said she had pneumonia when there was absolutely no indication of it other than she lives in assisted living.
I sat in the ER room with her for 12 hours before they could get her a room. When we got to a room, they told me I couldn’t stay with her which seemed insane to me since I was with her for 12 hours in the emergency room. While they were arguing with me about it, and not paying attention to the fact that she asked to go to the bathroom several times, she got up by herself and ripped out her IV. They then decided that maybe she needed a close observer overnight since I wasn’t going to be allowed to stay.
God sent us an angel nurse to stay with her who prayed with her and was kind to her. She called at 10:00 when her Covid test came back negative.
I asked for all the notes from while she was there. Several times I had requested to see the X-ray showing the pneumonia and was never given that opportunity. The paperwork said the doctor had spoken to me and that never happened. I went to get her and take her home in the morning; I still never saw the X-ray. I gave the paperwork to her primary with the orders to get a follow up X-ray in 6 weeks. Her primary refused to order one at that time because there were no indications of pneumonia. I had to demand it and again never was given the picture. I really think having heard Grace’s story made me really see what they were intending for my mother. By the way, there was nothing wrong with her hip other than a bruise. I’m always there to advocate for my mom and it got to the point where I argued with the hospital administrator about Covid not trumping advocacy. I became a better advocate because of Grace’s story. I believe they would have told her she had Covid pneumonia and would have started her on Covid protocol had I not been awake.
Maple Grove, MN