Last Wednesday at 1 am, I woke up to the sound of my daughter gasping for breath. I raced to her room and found her sitting up in bed, breathing raggedly through her mouth in deep, hoarse gulps.
I’m a former adult ICU nurse, but I had no idea what was going on. Quickly, I tried to figure it out. She wasn’t pale, so I knew she was still getting enough oxygen. She was also talking to me through her wheezing, and she wasn’t panicked, and she has no allergies or asthma. Why was she gasping for breath?
Unsure what to do, I called the nurse advice line for my insurance (Tricare). My gut instinct was to get her to a doctor right away, but my husband was out of town and my two-year-old son was sleeping, so this would be a major disruption to our night.
By the time a nurse finally got on the line, my daughter’s wheezing had slowed, and she sounded almost normal. The nurse, however, was unequivocal. “You need to take her to your nearest emergency room immediately. Do you know where that is? OK, go now.” She wouldn’t tell me what she thought was going on, but it didn’t matter. Airway issues are no joke.
As I buckled the kids into their car seats, I decided to go to Sharp Coronado ER instead of across the bridge to a larger hospital. I had waited for over an hour in that other hospital’s ER last summer, and I didn’t want to do that again. I knew Sharp would take my insurance.
I drove a few blocks and parked across the street from the ER entrance, and then walked through the door into a little waiting room. By this point, my daughter’s breathing had normalized to only a soft wheeze. I felt almost silly showing up at an ER, but I also felt responsible and cautious, and I knew we were doing the right thing. Besides, I wanted to know what was going on.
We were the only visitors in the clean, tidy waiting room. The receptionist immediately took my insurance card, and within another minute a nurse popped her head in and called us back. She was friendly and calm, and she checked my daughter’s vital signs with gentle efficiency.
Five minutes later, she led us to a standard ER room, and we sat down to wait. I had seen a couple of other patients in rooms as we walked down the hall, and I counted a total of eight beds. The ER was quiet and calm, and I heard laughter as a nurse chatted with a patient who was going home.
My children had just finished their first look around the room when the doctor entered, greeted us, and then asked me to hold my daughter in my arms “for her comfort” while he listed to her heart and lungs. After a quick, efficient examination, he determined she had croup.
Croup. What on earth is croup?
Apparently it’s pretty common. The Mayo Clinic website defines croup as “an infection of the upper airway, generally in children, which obstructs breathing and causes a characteristic barking cough.” I learned I could have probably treated Lena at home with cool night air or steam from a hot shower.
The doctor ordered two medications, which arrived within a few minutes for my daughter to take. I could see my kids were getting antsy, so I stuck my head out as soon as she’d finished her meds. The staff handed me a folder with a prescription for more steroids and instructions about croup, wished us a good night, and we were on our way home.
By 3:30 am, we were all at home and asleep. In the morning, it all seemed like a strange dream. Had we really made an ER visit in only an hour and a half?
Afterwards I caught up with Christopher Tan, manager of the Sharp Coronado ER, to find out a little more about our island’s local emergency department. He’s a friendly man with a warm voice, and he is proud of his ER. “We really embrace being part of the Coronado community,” he told me, and noted that they have seen 40% of the island for a visit to their emergency department (ED). “Interestingly,” he added, “we’ve seen 25% more volume in 2015.”
Sharp Coronado is rising to meet the demands of a busier ER. “We have the shortest weight times in San Diego county. We have worked on our efficiencies so that we can handle when patients come in. From 10am-6pm are our peak times, so we rearranged our nursing staff around that so that we would have nurses come in when the patients come in, based on the data we’ve been studying over the past year. We are ready when the community needs us.”
Christopher also wanted Coronado to know that this ED is “the only ED in San Diego to have online reservations.” If you can’t see your doctor but need medical care, you can come to Sharp at a time that is convenient to you. Sharp Coronado started this appointment system in early 2014. Even with unexpected emergencies in the ER, the staff has been able to keep the appointments 99% of the time.
Christopher was thrilled to know my family and I had a positive experience in his emergency room. “We’re here if you need us again!”
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“Coronado Living” is a weekly column written by one of eCoronado.com’s staff writers, Becca Garber. She writes about choosing simplicity and practicing hospitality with her family at home in Coronado. You can read more of her writing on her blog, BeccaGarber.com.
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Becca Garber
Staff Writer
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