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quiregrrlI'm so glad I came back to work today, there was actually excitement and I was smack in the middle of it!!!
I had a call early this arvo from a young guy (in his 20's but sounds about 12), and at first I thought he was winding me up, because he wanted to know if the nurse could come back to his place because he couldn't figure out how to turn the stove off...
I suggested he turn the knob back the other way, and he explained then that he's blind, he can't see it and can't figure it out by touch... then he mentioned that the smell was getting really strong and making him wheeze. Um, what smell? The gas. From the oven. (Dammit, I was hoping that wouldn't be the answer). Really strong now, having trouble breathing, he said "maybe I should try lighting it again, I have more matches".
"NO!!! no, don't light a match!" said I, then suggested he get outside his house, he said he's in a unit on the top floor and he's not sure he can get all the way out on his own and he already tried knocking on his neighbours doors on his floor but they're not home... at this point I'm quietly panicking inside... so told him to open any windows he could and the front door and stay near the window so he was breathing fresh air, and said I'd call him right back. I rang 000 and got the fire brigade and explained the situation and gave all the details and the operator person told me someone in the building had already rung and said they could smell gas and didn't know where it was coming from, so she was now updating the info for the fireys, thanks for ringing and an engine was on the way. I rang his nurse and quickly told her, then rang him back and told him the firemen were coming, by this stage he was very upset and crying so i stayed on the phone with him until the firemen got there (which was actually only a few minutes). Yay crisis averted!
A while later the nurse rang me and said she got there about 10 minutes after the fireys and they'd shut everything off and evacuated everyone in the building and the patient was fine but she brought him back to the hospital because he apparently was discharged yesterday after he hassled and hassled and hassled to be allowed to go home... he's completely blind in one eye, and had surgery a few days ago on the other one, so it's covered with a dressing at the moment... and he decided to try and heat a pizza in the oven for lunch. So yeah, he apparently agreed that maybe he should come back to hospital until the dressing comes off the eye that he CAN see out of... poor thing, I so completely understand pushing to get out of hospital as soon as possible and hating being reliant on anyone...
But anyhow, yay for excitement and drama that had a good outcome! and just quietly, yay me for being calm and sensible and useful in a somewhat scary situation!! I really do work best under pressure and the only time I get any satisfaction in this job is when I get to problem solve for clients, and the more crisis I'm problem solving the more satisfying it is...
I had a call early this arvo from a young guy (in his 20's but sounds about 12), and at first I thought he was winding me up, because he wanted to know if the nurse could come back to his place because he couldn't figure out how to turn the stove off...
I suggested he turn the knob back the other way, and he explained then that he's blind, he can't see it and can't figure it out by touch... then he mentioned that the smell was getting really strong and making him wheeze. Um, what smell? The gas. From the oven. (Dammit, I was hoping that wouldn't be the answer). Really strong now, having trouble breathing, he said "maybe I should try lighting it again, I have more matches".
"NO!!! no, don't light a match!" said I, then suggested he get outside his house, he said he's in a unit on the top floor and he's not sure he can get all the way out on his own and he already tried knocking on his neighbours doors on his floor but they're not home... at this point I'm quietly panicking inside... so told him to open any windows he could and the front door and stay near the window so he was breathing fresh air, and said I'd call him right back. I rang 000 and got the fire brigade and explained the situation and gave all the details and the operator person told me someone in the building had already rung and said they could smell gas and didn't know where it was coming from, so she was now updating the info for the fireys, thanks for ringing and an engine was on the way. I rang his nurse and quickly told her, then rang him back and told him the firemen were coming, by this stage he was very upset and crying so i stayed on the phone with him until the firemen got there (which was actually only a few minutes). Yay crisis averted!
A while later the nurse rang me and said she got there about 10 minutes after the fireys and they'd shut everything off and evacuated everyone in the building and the patient was fine but she brought him back to the hospital because he apparently was discharged yesterday after he hassled and hassled and hassled to be allowed to go home... he's completely blind in one eye, and had surgery a few days ago on the other one, so it's covered with a dressing at the moment... and he decided to try and heat a pizza in the oven for lunch. So yeah, he apparently agreed that maybe he should come back to hospital until the dressing comes off the eye that he CAN see out of... poor thing, I so completely understand pushing to get out of hospital as soon as possible and hating being reliant on anyone...
But anyhow, yay for excitement and drama that had a good outcome! and just quietly, yay me for being calm and sensible and useful in a somewhat scary situation!! I really do work best under pressure and the only time I get any satisfaction in this job is when I get to problem solve for clients, and the more crisis I'm problem solving the more satisfying it is...
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Date: 2009-05-08 06:26 am (UTC)Well done.. and what a shocker for the poor guy to be home alone *completely* blind. yikes.
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Date: 2009-05-08 06:33 am (UTC)And I agree re him being home alone, but he apparently argued vehemently for it and was adamant that he could manage independently... they should have sent a hospital OT to do a home safety assessment, and I don't know if they did or not, he may have refused that... but at least now he's agreed that hospital isn't so bad after all :)
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Date: 2009-05-08 06:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 08:24 am (UTC)