As consumers of medical services we have no clue about how much various procedures cost in real dollars because we don’t pay for much of the care we receive, yet so many among us present at the ER with often benign complaints/concerns that would have been better served staying home. Think about that for a moment. Think about what you could be doing instead of loading up the family to go to the hospital.
Sadly, I suspect we’re conditioned to believe that every little cut, bruise, sniffle, sneeze, pain in the chest, expulsion of flatulence, eye pain, ear pain, nose pain, throat pain demands that we go to the hospital at once. Go there to wait and wait and wait and wait. Why aren’t we seen at once? We’re sick! We might be dying!
How many young mothers who can’t find a babysitter take 4 kids, all under seven, to sit with her in the ER; one child with the sniffles and 3 others of various ages running all over the place, squealing and banging toys at those little tables in the corner. There she sits for one hour. Two. Three. Four. Children are whining. Children are hungry. What does she do? Does she stick it out? The child with the sniffles who was really hot and listless at home, is sleeping, clutching a sippy cup. The fever broke. Hmm! She goes home, giving up on the wait.
In dollar terms, at the minimum wage of $11.25/hour and an ER wait time of 4 hours (low end wait time), a person has effectively lost $45. Forty-five dollars, people! Imagine what one could have done with that money.
Next time you think you must go to the hospital for a cough, think about this — the cost of a few ‘cold comfort’ products instead of that drive-through meal you had yesterday would have saved you from yourself and ensured that your children weren’t exposed unnecesarily to all those waiting room germs.
While you’re at it, make a list of things that are commonly used during cold/flu season and top up your medicine cabinet, remembering to keep all products out of reach of children. Expand your wound care supplies; if you have very little, investigate and determine what is needed, make a list and check it twice. Then, go get it. Small storage bins are great for storing medical gear like bandages, gauze pads, elastic bandages, an array of over the counter cold, cough and sinus medications. Make sure to get paediatric formulations if there are little ones in the home - keep your ‘medicine chest’ out of reach of those tiny hands.
Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca
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