PeaceHealth Peace Island Medical Center
It seems to me that the problem at the new hospital is not one of insufficient staff to handle Urgent Care cases but the simple medical competence of their staff to determine whether a person coming in any of their doors needs Urgent Care or Emergency Care.
If I present at any door with a fever or a sprained ankle surely any competent doctor can determine that I don't need the services of a full emergency room and can choose the machines and instruments necessary to give me the care I need, like say, a thermometer or an x-ray machine. That decision is made by all doctors every time they see a patient, I hope anyway.
At the old medical center I could drop in with a stomach ache or a sore knee and have someone decide whether to send me home, give me a prescription or med flight me off somewhere.
Has the current staff not had that training course? And please don't tell me it's a business decision. Yes, this is the United States where everything is up for profit but even so patient care should take precedence over profits at a hospital anywhere.
Otherwise I may have to find the service entrance and see what sort of charge I get coming in that way. Frankly right now I hesitate to come in any door.
Margaret Thorson
Waldron
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