My daughter, who is 15, and I visited Lynchburg General. We had spent 7.5 hours at the Centra Southside ER the day before for the same procedure we found ourselves for at Lynchburg General. We live in Farmville, our doctor is based out of Roanoke, but we see him in a Lynchburg satellite office. My daughter was very recently diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and had been on an ng tube for home feedings. All was going well, and the tube was removed. She had a great week improving as everyone thought she would, then had a major setback. Our doctor thought it best she go back on the feeding tube, but rather than make us travel to Lynchburg or Roanoke, he said it was ok to go to Centra Southside, called ahead and all should be fine for us to go there to have the ng tube put in. Unfortunately, all was not fine as they did not have the right tube, working with our doctor, they thought they could make it work - but it just wasn't going to - and the tube that was placed and was removed. So we spent a long 7.5 hours in the ER where she couldn't eat, and still did not leave with a tube. The next morning our doctor called and said he had talked to the folks at Lynchburg General, and they could help us out by doing it outpatient on the floor. There was still some miscommunication, regarding what we needed, but from the moment we got there, Fran had everything under control and was going to make sure we left with what we needed. After the day before at Southside, my daughter was an emotional wreck, in addition to needing to have the tube put back in. She does not like blood work (which was also being done while we were there) with it taking 2-3 people to hold her down and keep her arm still. She tries to curl up into a ball and just cries. Putting an ng tube in, was something else altogether. The first one she had was placed while she was still under anesthesia from her colonoscopy. At the ER she was given a breathing treatment of lidocaine to help make the process easier, but it still was not easy for her to have it put in being totally aware of what was going on. Lynchburg General did not have the same breathing lidocaine only a Chloraseptic spray for a little bit of numbing of the throat. This made my daughter even more uneasy as it had hurt a little being put in the day before with the numbing medicine, and that day there would be none. Fran did all she could to calm my daughter and explain things to her. When it was time to place the tube, the lab arrived for the blood draw. So we did that first. Everything had been delayed as the hospital had lost power, which just further set my daughter into an emotional tizzy. When it was time to put the ng tube in, Fran tried to place it, but my daughter was not cooperating. We eventually figured out the best way for me to hold her, another nurse to hold her, and a medical student to hold me, so I wouldn't fall off the bed while trying to hold my daughter still. Together, the tube was finally placed and we needed to wait for an x-ray to be sure all was as it should be. That may be all in a days work for a pediatric nurse, but I'm not sure any of the other nurses would have been able to get the tube in as easily in those conditions.
Fran did some other things that truly set her apart. When we arrived and were explaining our situation, she asked about a Home Health Nurse. I explained that the case manager at Roanoke Memorial had tried to set us up with one, but everywhere she called said they did not service our area. Centra Home Health does not have pediatrics, and it wasn't clear to me at the time if the other didn't do pediatrics as well, or did not service our area - it didn't really matter, there was none available. Fran found this hard to believe given Farmville serves a large area and isn't that far from Lynchburg. So she researched some other home health agencies and gave me a list to try. Unfortunately, when our doctor's office called them the next day, they indeed did not service our area. We still find that hard to believe, but Farmville and Prince Edward County were left off of the list of all the companies. Apparently, it has been that way for at least 13 years that we are not served by the agencies out of Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Richmond, or South Boston. But either way, we are grateful that Fran took the time to try to help us with that.
Fran also gave me information on some National entities that can help us as we navigate the path of this new journey we are on. Some of it she was pretty sure we would not need as it was hoped we wouldn't be in a truly long term situation, but she wanted to make sure we were aware in case we came across others who could need the information. She didn't have to do that or look for other home health possibilities for us.
Over the past month, we have been in 3 different hospitals with my daughter, one was an extended stay, and I can honestly say that our experience at Lynchburg General was 100 times better than it could have been because of Fran Concklin. And I'm confident she made it so we did not have to spend a third day at another hospital another hour down the road.