I had a late start today in the emergency room coz I was relieved from Radiology until 9am and had to meet with one of our coordinators.
By the time I got to the ER, the first person I helped was a family member of an elderly patient who checked in two days ago coming straight from the train station after getting back from an out of town trip. She came in to visit who I believe is her mom, she got admitted to the hospital after her visit to our emergency room. I was able to track the patient right away and to her surprise, the patients room was in the 17th floor and not the 7th floor which could have been a floor away from our ER.
But here's the problem, she has anxiety getting into an elevator and worse, it is 10 flights up from where we were.
By that time, it was just couple of minutes passed 10am. Her sister was just right behind her parking the car hoping "the lady" can see their mom first. I tried convincing her getting into the elevator and even offered that I will go with her going up stairs but she refused. She stayed in our waiting area and called her sister about the whole 17th and not the 7th floor.
I normally take my lunch break late since u get breakfast before transferring to the ER from Radiology. 1pm came and I was on my way to the cafeteria when I saw her down the hallway by the elevators. I smiled at her from a far as I see the slow progress that she's made. I didn't even think that she can set her eyes to the elevator doors but then deep inside I was proud of her just being able to stand there.
As I approach her, I immediately acknowledged the progress she's made and immediately talked to her about the help I was offering earlier. She looked at me and I can jut see the fear in her eyes. I told her that I was on my lunch break an I'll stand with her until she is ready. After couple if minutes she told me that she is ready. All she asked us that I stand close to her to keep her calm. She looked at me hitting the buttons of the elevator and I told her which car we are hopping on and she repeated when I said 17th floor.
The elevator doors opened it was packed with people together with a stretcher in board but just perfect for the two of us to fit in. As soon as the elevator doors closed she looked down and leaned on my shoulder. We had a little problem on our way, the elevator had to stop in almost every floor possible but I did not mention that to her coz we might go back to square one. Luckily, we saw her sister one floor up when the door opened saying age got booted from the other one because there was a patient that needed to be transported. Luckily, she didn't panic. As we kept going up and making stops on every floor, I can feel her anxiety kept building up. But inlaid talking to her and reminding her that she was doing great. She hated the rush of the elevator as it accelerates up as soon as the doors closes. I made sure to keep her calm and kept talking to her while her sister was making fun of her. Haha!
We made it to the 17th floor with no major anxiety attacks or any meltdown. But I can see her eyes was getting teary but as I look at her while she took her time before we walked to the room I simply told her that she did amazing and she shouldn't be worried heading back down. She made a huge step and conquered it. I then told her that if she needed me to be there again on her flight down? She can definitely call me.
I walked them to their moms room so that I can check how was she doing as well. She was pretty I'll when she came in to the ER couple of days ago but she was looking great web I saw her. I excised myself as I go to the nurses station to grab a piece of paper to write sown my extension just in case she needed me again. She gave me a big hug and thanked me. My heart just melted.
After my lunch break I went back to my station and asked my co worker if somebody has called for me. No sign of her needing help so I thought they were staying longer up there. Couple of minutes later, she and her sister walked by my area and about to head out for a smoke. She had a huge smile on her face and looked at me saying thank you a couple of times and it made me smile.
It felt good helping somebody today. It was something different in a regular basis on how I help out patients in our hospital. It felt heart warming to be able to help someone even in a short amount of time. I wasn't gonna give up on her I told myself, from the time she told me about her anxiety until she made it to the top, not only to the 17th floor but on top of her fear.
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xoxo,
ChaCha
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