[Blindtlk] FW: B-F LINDA'S BATTLE, AN UPDATE

[trishs]

Hi group.  My name is Trish.  I'm a new member, and thought I'd 
jump in right here.  To me, this is part of what Truly Does need 
to be fixed in our health care system.
I get it about Linda's ill treatment.  I just don't "see" where 
threatening to sue turns this into a positive experience.
 I believe there should be a mandatory Disability Awareness 101 
in all Medical Training Programs, where speakers in all areas of 
disability are invited to staff meetings or workshops.  Perhaps 
your well deserved letter to the powers that be should offer 
solutions so that this doesn't happen to others in the future?

> ----- Original Message -----
>From: "David Evans" <drevans at bellsouth.net
>To: "NFBnet Blind Talk Mailing List" 
<blindtlk at nfbnet.org>,<nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>, <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>, 
<acb-l at acb.org
>Date sent: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 14:50:35 -0400
>Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] FW: B-F LINDA'S BATTLE, AN UPDATE


>Dear John,

>I can only say that your experience is not uncommon in dealing 
with hospital
>staff.
>Turn this negative into a positive.
>Tell them you are going to sue them over their handling of 
Linda's situation
>unless they begin a training program for the staff on how to deal 
with this
>kind of situation so it does not happen again.
>It should include access laws and regulations, common courtesy 
and methods
>of preparing and dealing with Blind and low vision people in 
their charge.
>I know that knee replacement hurts allot and doing the exercises 
everyday is
>the only way it will get better and reduce the pain not to 
mention get your
>mobility back.
>It is the treatment here that is wrong.  Someone should have had 
the duty to
>keep you informed as to her condition and status.
>Treatment staff as well as housekeeping need to be trained as to 
what and
>how to handle delivery of food and treatment procedures when 
dealing with
>the blind and even your service dog.
>If some one does not teach them what to do and that they have 
responsibility
>to see to it that things are done right; what is to stop them 
from doing
>this again in the future.Who at this hospital handles ADA 
compliance?  Why
>was not the staff trained how to deal with this.
>I have seen hospitals where they post a sign to tell the staff 
entering a
>room that the person is Blind and to announce themselves upon 
entering the
>room and exiting and what they are there for; test, housekeeping, 
food
>services or medical treatments.
>You deserve to know and be made aware of what they are doing.

>David Evans, NFBF

>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Eric Calhoun" <eric at pmpmail.com
>To: <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>; <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; 
<nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>;
><acb-l at acb.org
>Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 3:32 AM
>Subject: [Blindtlk] FW: B-F LINDA'S BATTLE, AN UPDATE


>> Hello, people, this _is blindness-related; contact Mr.  Justice 
for your
>> thoughts.  Thank you


>> Original Message:
>> From: "John Justice" <johnjustice at comcast.net
>> To: <blind-friends at yahoogroups.com
>> Subject: B-F LINDA'S BATTLE, AN UPDATE
>> Date:
>> Thu, 3 Apr 2008 21:15:10 -0400

>> Recently, my wife Linda went through a double knee replacement.  
her
>> surgery was on February 4, and the actual operation went quite 
well.  But
>> what happened after that is something we are still trying to 
understand.

>>>From the very beginning, we knew that trouble was coming.  I 
brought my
>> guide dog along and the staff at the Admissions desk started to 
give us a
>> hard time about there not being enough room in the treatment 
area for the
>> dog.  They finally shifted us to a larger room and I was able to 
sit on
>> one
>> side while Linda was being prepared for surgery.  The last thing 
I heard
>> was her joking with people in the hallway as she was wheeled 
away.

>> Her surgeon, Doctor Star, called me later to tell me that the 
operation
>> had gone quite well.  At that time Linda was still in the 
Recovery Room
>> and
>> they wouldn't let me anywhere near her.  During an operation 
like this,
>> the
>> doctors use something called femoral blocks.  They are 
injections which
>> are
>> supposed to help with the tremendous pain.  Linda woke up to 
unbelievable
>> agony because the injections didn't work for her at all.  They 
finally got
>> her pain under control enough to move her up to the room where I 
was
>> waiting.  I had been sitting there for more than 2 hours, 
wondering what
>> had happened to Linda and getting very little information at 
all.

>> During her stay at the hospital, she ran into a problem time and 
time
>> again with staff who just didn't know how to deal with a totally 
blind
>> patient, especially one who was completely helpless due to major 
surgery.
>> At times, they refused to help her at all.  They made no 
adjustment for
>> her
>> blindness and got angry when we demanded a little consideration.  
The
>> nurses, especially at night, did nothing but complain constantly 
about how
>> understaffed they were and made Linda feel like a criminal every 
time she
>> asked for something.  Her requests were normal.  Her pleas for
>> consideration where her blindness was concerned were reasonable.  
The
>> physicians thought so but the nursing staff, especially the 
clinical
>> assistants, seemed to act as if Linda was some kind of strange 
creature
>> from another planet.  I raised so much hell with Patient 
Relations that,
>> after a while, they were reluctant to return my calls.  This was 
Linda's
>> first time in a hospital.  She had never been operated on before 
nor was
>> she in a hospital as a patient in her adult life.  She just 
wasn't
>> prepared
>> for their lack of cooperation and offensive manner.

>> But my Linda is a fighter.  In spite of everything, she went on.  
But
>> then, what choice did she have?  Her own knees were gone and she 
had to
>> deal with these new artificial ones, whether she liked it or 
not.

>> After 3 days in the surgery ward, Linda was moved up stairs to 
the
>> Rehabilitation floor.  But the attitude of the nurses on that 
floor was,
>> if
>> anything, worse than the staff in the Surgical wing.  At one 
point, one of
>> the male nurses tried to refuse me admittance into a patient 
dining room
>> where the patients, if they wanted to, could eat with their 
families.  I
>> warned the man that he was getting himself into hot water  but 
he refused
>> to listen until some supervisor showed up and gave him walking 
orders.
>> What a jerk!  After that, we had no trouble in the dining room 
except for
>> Linda's constant, ongoing pain.

>> As blind people, some of you will appreciate and understand what 
Linda
>> had to put up with.  She would ask for water and one of them 
would bring
>> it
>> for her.  Then later, when some procedure or other was 
necessary, the
>> water
>> would be moved and no thought was given to how Linda could find 
it in a
>> strange room.  The nurses just didn't or wouldn't understand 
that a few
>> seconds of consideration might make all of the difference for 
Linda,
>> especially when it came to her blindness coupled with the fact 
that she
>> couldn't move around very well.  Various staff members would 
enter her
>> room
>> and without explaining what they were doing, would begin 
whatever
>> treatment
>> they had in mind.  At first, the housekeeping staff would bring 
her
>> dinner,
>> set it on a side table and never tell her it was there.  More 
than once,
>> they moved her phone out of reach and didn't put it back.  She 
couldn't
>> wait to get out of there.

>> The physical therapists were completely different in every 
respect from
>> the nursing staff.  They were considerate, patient and took the 
time to
>> explain every exercise and process.  They told Linda exactly 
what she had
>> to do and described the equipment before asking her to use it.  
Linda used
>> to say that her therapy classes were an escape from the hell 
created by
>> the
>> rest of the staff.  She tried to educate them but it was an up 
hill battle
>> with those who just wouldn't listen or didn't care.

>> No one ever told us how much it would hurt.  I swear to you 
people.  I
>> believe that Linda was the only blind patient this hospital ever 
had who
>> got both knees replaced at the same time.  But Linda said it 
best.  If she
>> had known how much it was going to hurt, she would have never 
had the
>> surgery at all.  But in her case, the bilateral replacement was 
necessary.
>> Both of her knees were that bad.

>> When she came home from the hospital, her motion was still very 
limited.
>> I took care of my baby and I enjoyed doing it.  I was so afraid 
that I
>> would have forgotten how to fix a meal or clean up the kitchen 
but I did
>> surprisingly well.  Linda could manage to get up and down the 
stairs
>> although it was a slow and painful process.  We borrowed a wheel 
chair and
>> for the longest time, that was her place to sit at our table.  
Our house
>> is
>> too small for the chair to be useful anywhere else.  She used a 
rolling
>> walker for a while and then graduated to a cane.

>> Well, that was more than 8 weeks ago friends.  Linda is doing 
quite well
>> walking around now without the aid of a walker or a cane.  She 
is still in
>> quite a bit of pain.  But gradually things are improving.  Linda 
had the
>> opportunity, through several surveys, to describe her experience 
in the
>> hospital.  She showed them no mercy.  Eventually, we are going 
to write a
>> letter to the hospital's administration.  We believe that the 
staff is
>> sadly lacking in knowledge when it comes to helping patients 
with physical
>> impairments, especially those whom are totally blind.

>> John Justice

>> My job feeds my family, music feeds my soul.

>> PERSONAL E-MAIL:  johnjustice at comcast.net


>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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