Kudos to a helpful ER nurse at St. Rose

By Mandy Walton

Friday, May 22, 2009 | 11:22 a.m.

I would like to publicly thank and commend Amy, the triage nurse at St. Rose – De Lima’s emergency room, for her help earlier this week. My son burned his hand on the stove a few days prior and a blister had formed. My husband and I were convinced he was OK and without infection or pain because of the way he was acting (normal) and the colorless characteristics of the blister itself.

However, we decided it should probably be checked out. For two days I could not get in touch with anyone at my son’s pediatrician office. I even went over to the office in person to try and make an appointment (and yell at them for never answering the phone), but it was closed. Then, I decided to have some acquaintances take a look at it and tell me what they thought. They said I should take him to the UMC burn unit. Very upset, I hurried to the car with my son, who was happy and had no idea what was going on, and started to make my way toward the freeway. Looking back at the baby, I noticed that he had a clear liquid all over him.

The burn blister had popped. Now he found it fun to start poking at it.

I knew I wouldn’t make it all the way to UMC before he started peeling his hand away. I turned into St. Rose and took him into the emergency room.

“This is going to be expensive,” I thought, knowing that the cost of our health insurance had just skyrocketed.

“We’ll probably pick up some flu from being in here as well,” I said out loud as I opened the doors.

As I was trying to hang onto my son, sign in and explain my harried situation to the triage nurse, she stopped me from signing in.

“All they’re going to tell you back there is to keep it clean and dry,” she said. “It looks fine.”

My mouth probably dropped open. It was such a relief to have my instincts finally validated. The nurse gave me some gauze, tape, and dressing so that I could go home and keep it clean. I thanked her for her kindness and asked for her name.

Maybe this isn’t routine, but I sure did appreciate it. Amy saved me an afternoon of waiting in the waiting room and then more waiting in the actual emergency room itself. I know that lots of times, people abuse the emergency room and use it instead of going to the doctor. I didn’t want to be one of those, but I honestly wasn’t sure what to do.

Thank you, Amy, for treating me (and my baby) like a person, and not a number!