Herb Opalek: A night of Mercy in ER

I had reason to recently spend some six hours at Mercy Medical Center's emergency room with a family member.

It was an early Thursday evening and it was a full house. Not only were there no rooms available but the hallways were crammed with emergency patients in both stretcher beds and chairs.

The Sun-Star has recently reported on claims of maltreatment and poor care at Mercy. Indeed, I have been shown documented evidence of these claims as they relate to the hospital in general.

While I cannot personally speak to the care given in the hospital wards, on that particular night the overall coverage at the emergency room was excellent.

Coming into the ER proper, I would never have imagined the brouhaha that echoes through a busy emergency room. I would never have guessed it would be so loud, so disorderly and so pathetic.

A man on a gurney was screaming incomprehensible words at the top of his lungs. Babies were crying out in pain. EMTs from Riggs Ambulance Service were constantly bringing in new emergency patients. Doctors, nurses, nurses' aides, hospital staff and family members were constantly bumping into each other in crowded narrow halls.

With all that cacophony, the medical staff was doing excellent work.

There were glitches here and there that might have been avoided. A nurse not hearing a patient's admonition to not put a blanket over an open wound is a prime example of a too busy ER.

Not being careful when putting in an IV on my family member's arm is another. Yet, I would venture to say that the care given that night was of the tender loving variety.

In a report by Dr. John O'Shea for the Heritage Foundation, we are told that "America's emergency rooms are in crises." The report goes on to say that "the emergency medical system is stretched beyond capacity." Worse is the assertion that "current conditions degrade the quality of patient care."

Not so at Mercy.

The quality of care stood out. As soon as a bed or gurney became available the sheets were immediately changed. When I inadvertently sat on an empty bed and coughed, the linen was immediately changed.

Special attention was paid by the medical staff to young and old alike. One patient had six nurses attending her within a 40-minute span. A cute 2-year-old was cooed at and looked after by both the doctors and nurses. Even the screaming patient was patted and comforted by every nurse passing by.

The evening began with a nurse doing triage on my family member.

Unlike what we've seen on "M*A*S*H," triage was the calmly checking of vital signs and prioritizing cases in terms of urgency. Since those most ill were treated first and received precedence for X-rays and CAT scans, it took almost five hours to go to X-ray. The wait was excruciating but obviously necessary in light of the huge amount of more serious illnesses.

The doctors on duty were harried and overburdened. They ate their sandwiches on the run and never stopped seeing patients. They were cool in the face of confusion and hysteria and never once faltered.

I was pleased at the considerate attention shown us.

Clergy were right there visiting the sick and no one looked askance at the prayer and comfort given us. It was an elevating experience to see God represented right there in the ER. Lay chaplains were moving about and are to be applauded for their industriousness in being Johnny-on-the-spot.

Yes there is much to complain about. Most problematic was insistence by the finance department on getting insurance information while a patient was in dire pain.

But, to be honest, the quality of care at Mercy's ER was above average in comparison to other ERs I have visited.

One can only hope to see added improvement when Mercy moves north so that my pride in the ER extends to the whole hospital.

Herb Opalek is CEO of the Merced Rescue Mission.