This April marks four years since I took my mom to see the Cherry Blossoms in Washington DC. We were thinking about taking the train but decided to drive instead to give us the flexibility needed to adjust our schedule to see the blooms at the peak.
We left the midwest area early in the morning and planned to drive as far as we could and then stop for the night. We made it to Pittsburgh and turned in for the night. About 2 am, my mom started complaining of a severe headache. I gave her a couple aspirins and told her ‘let see how you feel in the morning’. In the morning it wasn’t any better and she wanted to head back. I had remembered seeing a hospital on the way in and suggested we stop in to see if there was something we could do to alleviate the pain.
I talked to the hotel’s front desk and they suggested another one that was closer so we went there. Generally I do not like hospitals and was hopeful we were early enough that we could still make it to DC by the end of the day. By the time we reached ER the pain had gotten progressively worse. They took mom in fairly soon and ordered tests soon after. I was starting to panic as we had known someone who passed away recently from complications of a brain tumor. By mid afternoon her pain went down a little and we were told she would be transferred hospital for further treatment.
We arrived in her room around 7 pm and dinner had just finished however the nurse brought her something to eat. Since she knew we were from out of town, she asked if I wanted sleep on the lounge chair and brought a pillow and blanket. Even though it wasn’t the most comfortable way to sleep I was grateful to be by my mom in an unknown city.
The next day doctors came in and give a diagnosis and told her she would probably be out in a couple of days. My mom doesn’t fancy TV much and her headache was down to a bearable level and she wanted something to read. I asked one of the nurses if there was a store in hospital and she told me about the library where we could check out books while in the hospital. Wow I never heard of that. So when I took my next cafeteria meal I sought out the library and found something mom would like.
Next morning, we were told mom would be released later that day. Mom was so excited and we got the doctors Ok to continue on DC to see the blossoms! So just after lunch we were told the doctor was in the process of signing the release forms. I asked if they could mail the medical papers to my mom. While we were waiting the nurses came by to say good-bye and brought me the medical docs on a CD. They also gave me a voucher to validate the parking for 2 days without me asking. When I got to garage I asked the parking attendant for the easiest way to get on the highway towards DC. The guy came out of the booth and showed me on my ipad (which was fairly new) how I get to the highway using apple maps.
We finally were on our way! Mom was in great spirits and ready to go again. On the drive I kept thinking to myself, there must have been something in the water. Everyone is this area of town we met was full of empathy and very helpful. It was almost surreal. From the young doctors in ER to the attending physicians to the nurses and the lady in the library, they all worked as a team to make our what could have been a daunting experience to very memorable and pleasant. It was all the little things that added up to make for a GREAT customer/patient experience. Even though the room was dated being a hospital in the city, the service is what we remembered. I am generally not great with names, but I remember it Hospital name clearly and will tell everyone I know that lives in Pittsburgh.
We arrived that night and the next day was the first day of the peak. We had a magnificent time seeing the Cherry Blossoms. DC itself on the other hand.. well that’s another story.