What is wrong with Bonner General Hospital in Sandpoint!? (Kootenai: to live, car)

[volosong]

Originally Posted by hatin11r

Just read a letter to the editor on thebonnercountybee.com website. The writer shared their experience in the ER/ICU. Names - names too.The saga continues.........

That should be:

Bonner County Daily Bee: Your source for local news and information

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by volosong

That should be:

Bonner County Daily Bee: Your source for local news and information

volosong,

I want to make sure I understand your comment. Would you please explain further?

I read the letter (thanks for the link. For those of us not familiar with this publication I went to the search and typed Bonner General and found the letter).


I don't know the person who wrote it but wish I could remember as many names and where some trained as he did. Props for including Rose from Housekeeping. So often those in Housekeeping are neglected. Not only would any facility be closed without the staff, my own personal experience at various hospitals is usually the Housekeeper does offer an encouraging word or give a friendly smile.

MSR

[volosong]

Originally Posted by Mtn. States Resident

volosong,

I want to make sure I understand your comment. Would you please explain further?...

The link hatin11r posted is invalid. I did a quick search and discovered the correct link. All I did was cut-n-paste that link into the reply window, and when it was posted and displayed, the text you see is different than what I pasted. If people try to go to the hatin11r's link, it won't take them anywhere. That's all. Just corrected the link.

hatin11r posted thebonnercountybee.com
the correct link is thebonnercountydailybee(dot)com

orig missing "daily"

When I posted the whole link, as one would enter, this forum software changed what is displayed.

I apologize if I did not handle this correctly. I did not intend to offend or confuse anyone.

[hatin11r]

"V"....thanx for addressing my incorrect address! Glad folks can get there now and see another side of BGH. Like the previous posts indicate,all is not created equal......even when it comes to health care. Just the messenger.......

[workingonit]

Did you just go to the hospital or did you drive through the town, too? Just asking because rural hospitals are always pretty small.

[smurfmonkey]

I had a good experience with the staff at Bonner General. I do have two complaints however.

1. I arrived at the hospital after a 2 hour drive from the site of the injury with a broken ankle in 3 places. After being told I would have surgery immediately (so no pain meds were administered) I was informed it wouldn't be until the following morning. Fine. However I was discharged for the night with a very mild pain reliever. Since we were so far from where we had been staying we had to get a hotel for the night and the pain was unbearable. I wasn't able to get any sleep that night, right before surgery. In hindsight I think the hospital should have admitted me or at least given me that option.

2. The physical therapist that was assigned to teach me how to use crutches (which I had informed her and the Dr. that I had used them before) was incredibly insensitive and just plain rude. My biggest issue was with her touching me without informing me of her intentions. Unfortunately as her behavior continued during this experience I had an anxiety attack and she accused me of being impatient and uncooperative. Even as I write this I feel myself getting very upset even though it has been a month since my experience at Bonner General.

My advice is to just speak up and ask for what makes you feel comfortable. Being that this was my first (age 39) personal experience with a hospital stay, overall I was pleased with the professionalism and kindness of the staff. Thank you for reading this.

[brokencrayola]

Originally Posted by smurfmonkey

I had a good experience with the staff at Bonner General. I do have two complaints however.

1. I arrived at the hospital after a 2 hour drive from the site of the injury with a broken ankle in 3 places. After being told I would have surgery immediately (so no pain meds were administered) I was informed it wouldn't be until the following morning. Fine. However I was discharged for the night with a very mild pain reliever. Since we were so far from where we had been staying we had to get a hotel for the night and the pain was unbearable. I wasn't able to get any sleep that night, right before surgery. In hindsight I think the hospital should have admitted me or at least given me that option.

2. The physical therapist that was assigned to teach me how to use crutches (which I had informed her and the Dr. that I had used them before) was incredibly insensitive and just plain rude. My biggest issue was with her touching me without informing me of her intentions. Unfortunately as her behavior continued during this experience I had an anxiety attack and she accused me of being impatient and uncooperative. Even as I write this I feel myself getting very upset even though it has been a month since my experience at Bonner General.

My advice is to just speak up and ask for what makes you feel comfortable. Being that this was my first (age 39) personal experience with a hospital stay, overall I was pleased with the professionalism and kindness of the staff. Thank you for reading this.

I know this may not have been an option with you, but I would have driven on to Kootenia Memorial Hospital in CDA. Unless I was on deaths door I would not have surgery at that hospital, but would either drive on or ask to be transferred by ambulance. There is no way you should have been sent home with an ankle that bad and needing surgery. I have had surgeries in CDA and Spokane in the past 2 years that I could have had at Bonner General, but chose not to.

[pimit2]

I’ve been on this earth quite a while and it seems like I’ve heard just about every hospital horror story having to do with every hospital there is. I’ve even heard terrible stories about both the prestigious Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic. Were the stories accurate? Maybe, maybe not. Were they embellished or exaggerated? Maybe, maybe not. Let me tell you why I feel this way about hospital stories.

When we are in a hospital or when a friend or loved one is in a hospital, we are under some degree of stress. Hospitals are foreign, abstract places, much different from what we are used to. Hospitals are strange. They even smell strange. Because the experience is so unusual, we are quite sensitive to everything that happens there. We’d like to experience perfection in this unfamiliar place, so anything short of that becomes a story to tell others. And, many of us (I’ve been guilty ) will tend to “make the story better” each time we tell it to someone.

Then there is hearsay. Did you ever play the game of “Gossip”? A starter whispers a basic story to someone, who then whispers the story to another player, and so on until each person has heard the story and passed it along. The final player recounts the story he/she has heard. I assure you, it will not even be close to the original tale. Why is that? It’s because we don’t always hear what someone is telling us and we frequently retell a story much different from what we thought we heard.

Perfection? Doesn’t exist….even in a hospital where we should insist on perfection. And, take my word for it....none of us are perfect either.


pimit2 (Bob)

[elkotronics]

And it can be added that our bodies are not perfect and are constantly breaking down (granted some of us more than others), and we all don't understand body systems and medical jargon on the same level and pimit2's post above stands out as being even more believable.

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by pimit2

I’ve been on this earth quite a while and it seems like I’ve heard just about every hospital horror story having to do with every hospital there is. I’ve even heard terrible stories about both the prestigious Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic. Were the stories accurate? Maybe, maybe not. Were they embellished or exaggerated? Maybe, maybe not. Let me tell you why I feel this way about hospital stories.

When we are in a hospital or when a friend or loved one is in a hospital, we are under some degree of stress. Hospitals are foreign, abstract places, much different from what we are used to. Hospitals are strange. They even smell strange. Because the experience is so unusual, we are quite sensitive to everything that happens there. We’d like to experience perfection in this unfamiliar place, so anything short of that becomes a story to tell others. And, many of us (I’ve been guilty ) will tend to “make the story better” each time we tell it to someone.

Then there is hearsay. Did you ever play the game of “Gossip”? A starter whispers a basic story to someone, who then whispers the story to another player, and so on until each person has heard the story and passed it along. The final player recounts the story he/she has heard. I assure you, it will not even be close to the original tale. Why is that? It’s because we don’t always hear what someone is telling us and we frequently retell a story much different from what we thought we heard.

Perfection? Doesn’t exist….even in a hospital where we should insist on perfection. And, take my word for it....none of us are perfect either.


pimit2 (Bob)

A really great post, Bob. When those who matter the most to us, or we ourselves are sick or injured to the point hospital care is necessary, it's a totally different situation.

I agree there is no perfect hospital. Hospitals are staffed by humans and humans make mistakes. Also, bodies respond differently to various treatments and surgeries. Outcomes also depend on when patients seek care and their honesty with clinicians.

Along with dealing with a variety of emotions we often don't want to address, decisions have to be made. Sometimes there isn't a happy or desired result.

We can educate ourselves, be pro-active, and make the best decisions we can about our care. However, ultimately we or any physician or other clinician can't always make everything be perfect because physicians, mid-levels and others also depend on other people for what they use to treat patients.