Do Not Use Lakewood's Emergency Room

[Bill Call]

Lakewood's stand alone emergency room is a minute clinic with emergency room prices. No ambulance service in the country will take a patient to a stand alone emergency room. If you are experiencing a medical emergency call 911.

Case in point. The Lakewood EMS took 8 people to area emergency rooms after the recent fire on Arliss. They did NOT take them to Lakewood.

[Bridget Conant]

Eight people at one time for one event and they had to split them between 2 hospitals, both farther away than the old hospital.

I agree that any serious issue would not be able to be handled at Lakewood, therefore wasting precious time while the patient is moved to a higher level facility.

I sense a bit of wonderment on social media, where there are now almost daily complaints about no real ER, no doctors without driving to Westlake or Avon, double ambulance billing...just all the new stuff we have to contend with now that the hospital is gone.

I want to respond “WTF, weren’t you paying attention when this was going down?” Sadly, a lot of people were not.

[cameron karslake]

Aw geez, and the mayor assured me the new ER would restore my peace of mind.

I guess he was lying then too.

My peace of mind is shot.

[Mark Kindt]

"Hospitals are essential infrastructure for emergency preparedness."

A truth that I cannot explain in any simpler manner.

Lakewood made its choice.

In Lakewood, retail/office/apartments are the long-term priority and have been, at least since 2013 or even before.

Yes, let us give away our hospital building for free to the developers.

Are we crazy?

[Mark Kindt]

Lakewood EMS staffers had the moral courage to raise these issues in public a few years back.

They were right then.

We live with the consequences now.

And, if I recall the situation correctly, these courageous folks were told to "can-it" by their superiors.

Stand-up. Speak-out.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Aw geez, and the mayor assured me the new ER would restore my peace of mind.

I guess he was lying then too.

My peace of mind is shot.

Cameron


Let's be honest here, The Mayor, The Law Director, The Finance Director, All of Council at the time, lied to the residents of Lakewood, again, and again, and again, and again, and again for over 7 years.

Then for the past 3+ years they have actively worked to cover-up their lies, their miss-information, and their scheming to sell off Lakewood single largest asset, and our largest employer, and their failure to deliver on one thing they said. All as a way to get their hands on the $$$ and land, for themselves, and their close friends.

As I have said since fall of 2014, we have been played, like idiots.

Chris Christie was brought under Federal Investigation for moving 48 orange cones on the George Washington Bridge. His staff was found guilty of that and lying and sent to prison. Imagine had Chris Christie sold the bridge to benefit only himself and friends, and lied about it?

We have had the city with its enablers, lie and cheat this city, and everyone at City Hall is now complicit in the "act." The clock is ticking on if any of the people that ran on honesty, transparency and accountability meant it, or simply put are they now complicit too?

This is getting ridiculous.

.

[dl meckes]

Four people were sent to Metro and four to Fairview because of the fire.

They were not sent to the Clinic's Emergency Department.

They will be charged for the ride in the ambulance. How much will that cost? If we had a foundation that could help with or cover the cost of care - as we have had in place for 100 years...

It's too late to worry about it now.

Thanks, Mike.

[cmager]

Four people were sent to Metro and four to Fairview because of the fire. They were not sent to the Clinic's Emergency Department. They will be charged for the ride in the ambulance. How much will that cost? If we had a foundation that could help with or cover the cost of care - as we have had in place for 100 years...It's too late to worry about it now.

Thanks, Mike.

Summers and Butler and Fitzy and the Clinic don't care. In 1-3-5-10 years they will receive their payouts.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Case in point. The Lakewood EMS took 8 people to area emergency rooms after the recent fire on Arliss. They did NOT take them to Lakewood.

Bill

We need to be careful here giving out medical advice. I was talking with some people, and looking through some records. Since the 90s, these people would have been taken to Metro anyway, and they certainly would have if there had been any burns. Metro is not only a level 1 trauma center, they also house the Burn Unit which gets a majority of fire/smoke people for a pretty large radius.

Also, we should always underline, never drive yourself anywhere. Call an ambulance, get them to where you are at, and let the care begin immediately. Driving yourself to any care center, is a nightmare and a good way to die. Even when Lakewood was in full swing.

A friend of both of ours, had chest pains, and drove from Crocker Park, to Lakewood, they immediately wanted him at Avon, instead he drove to Fairview, where they immediately wanted him at Avon. Had he called an ambulance, he would have saved himself some stress and lots of time. Luckily it was not a stroke. One of the reasons Lakewood Hospital lead in stroke service and saving, was that Lakewood ambulance drivers were trained on the signs and what to administer at the time of the call. It was that that saved so many stroke patients from having it worse, not just the hospital.

I will admit, that it is a huge inconvenience during the build out of the new center. I will admit it is a potential nightmare for anyone driving themselves there, but one of the many things I have learned, and yes I learned it the hard way is, if you have to go to an emergency room, call and ambulance do not wait.

PS - As long as we are talking about emergency services. The first on the fire call were the Lakewood Police The EMS people could not speak well enough or give enough praise to the work the police did arriving on the scene. One woman bleeding out, smoke and fire issues. Lakewood Police got going, saving lives while the EMS and Fire arrived. The Lakewood Police probably saved that woman's life.

.

[Bill Trentel]

Remember the good old days? The only emergency medical service in town was a cop in a station wagon and a stretcher. That was in the 70s'.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Remember the good old days? The only emergency medical service in town was a cop in a station wagon and a stretcher. That was in the 70s'.

Bill

An excellent remembrance.


What used to be described best as a "meat wagon."

Is now...


A mobile emergency room. Biggest change, room for an EMS doctor to start and continue car to the hospital. Second biggest change, electronics that put the patients vitals and information at the hospital before they get there.

The second photos is from an interesting article. http://wrvo.org/post/inside-ambulance-dispatch-hospital
Inside the ambulance: from dispatch to hospital

Well worth the read.

.

[David Anderson]

I received two phone calls recently questioning why the Lakewood Fire Department transported Arliss fire victims to Metro and both phone calls referred to this LO discussion thread.

Bill Call and others - I have learned over the years from Chief Gilman that protocols and procedures are in place to determine in advance the treatment and transportation needs of injured Lakewood residents. The fire on Arliss is a good example of this. There is a Burn Unit at Metro and eight years ago or so the Lakewood Fire Department decided with the Burn Unit director that smoke inhalation patients with respiratory system issues would be further evaluated at the Burn Unit. This is why LFD/EMS has transported fire and smoke inhalation victims to the Burn Unit for almost a decade. Other fire departments assisted at Arliss and transported injured residents to Fairview per the protocols of those departments. Chief Gilman indicated that he is working with others to standardize the protocols for all Cuyahoga County EMS systems.

David Anderson
Member of Council - Ward One
216-789-6463
David.anderson@lakewoodoh.net

[Bridget Conant]

I received two phone calls recently questioning why the Lakewood Fire Department transported Arliss fire victims to Metro and both phone calls referred to this LO discussion thread.

But no one reads the Observer!

[Mark Kindt]

I received two phone calls recently questioning why the Lakewood Fire Department transported Arliss fire victims to Metro and both phone calls referred to this LO discussion thread.

Bill Call and others - I have learned over the years from Chief Gilman that protocols and procedures are in place to determine in advance the treatment and transportation needs of injured Lakewood residents. The fire on Arliss is a good example of this. There is a Burn Unit at Metro and eight years ago or so the Lakewood Fire Department decided with the Burn Unit director that smoke inhalation patients with respiratory system issues would be further evaluated at the Burn Unit. This is why LFD/EMS has transported fire and smoke inhalation victims to the Burn Unit for almost a decade. Other fire departments assisted at Arliss and transported injured residents to Fairview per the protocols of those departments. Chief Gilman indicated that he is working with others to standardize the protocols for all Cuyahoga County EMS systems.

David Anderson
Member of Council - Ward One
216-789-6463
David.anderson@lakewoodoh.net

Thank you, Council-member Anderson for writing this clarification.

Is the former Lakewood Hospital emergency room being used by our EMS in local emergency response on a routine basis?

Will the new emergency room at the new medical office building be used by our EMS for local emergency response on a routine basis?

This remains unclear to me and to others. Hence, the dialogue on this thread.

As you can imagine, many of us are still trying to understand the consequences of the closure of Lakewood Hospital on our community.

[Bridget Conant]

As you can imagine, many of us are still trying to understand the consequences of the closure of Lakewood Hospital on our community.

And many are living with those consequences on a daily basis. Just peruse Facebook. Lots of unhappy people.