I am a 32-year-old quadriplegic. I was in a car accident five years ago, and since then, I’ve spent plenty of time in various hospitals for various issues relating to my injury. In November, I and my care team realized that my catheter was clogged, and unfortunately, we didn’t have the supplies on hand for home health to change it. When this happens it’s very frustrating to know that I have to go to the emergency room to solve an issue that otherwise wouldn’t be an emergency. After getting settled into the room in the emergency department by the EMTs, who were also so sweet and very caring, Sarah came in to start my care. The minute she walked in she was excited to see me, she remembered me from previous visits! I was so impressed that she remembered me! She commented on how my hair was a different color than the last time we had seen each other, I was floored that she remembered me so well since I hadn’t been there in a while! I was in the emergency room for about 10 hours, and every time Sarah walked into my room, it was an absolute delight. She’s so caring, kind, funny, and generous with a smile. Her attitude and the way she approached her job was so very comforting. I was stressed out and very uncomfortable, but interacting with Sarah was downright fun! It’s wild to me to describe anything related to the emergency department as being fun, but Sarah brings that kind of energy into a room. 

Eventually, it was time to change my catheter. Since I’m a high-level quadriplegic (C5/6), my body reacts differently to pain than somebody without a spinal cord injury. My heart starts pounding, I start sweating, goosebumps all over, it’s very unpleasant. I remember Sarah being so attentive and even making sure my hair was out of my face during my catheter change. It was such a little thing to have her brush my hair off of my forehead, but it’s those tiny little things that so often go unnoticed that Sarah was able to see. There were three people in the room doing that catheter change and a lot going on, but she still had the empathy and the time to get my hair out of my face. I’m sure we all know how annoying it can be to have hair sticking to your face when you’re sweaty and uncomfortable, it’s such a little thing that I wouldn’t expect anybody to try and fix for me, but Sarah did. 

Finally, I was discharged, and my caregiver brought my wheelchair to the hospital to bring me home. I’m a Hoyer transfer, which is always a little complicated in the emergency room. Using a Hoyer in the emergency room is a pretty rare thing, in my experience it can be challenging for the staff to figure out how to accommodate. But my god, did the entire team work their butts off to figure out how to make that Hoyer work in that tiny room. When we realized that the Hoyer wasn’t going to be able to roll under the stretcher in the emergency room because the stretcher was too low to the ground, Sarah snapped into action and worked with the rest of the team to find a solution. We all knew that if we couldn’t get me into the wheelchair with the Hoyer I was going to have to spend HOURS waiting for transport to be available to take me home and nobody wanted that for me. It was amazing to see everybody pull together to problem-solve. I remember looking over at this incredible group of people and thinking about how hard they were all working to solve this problem. 

The world is not built for people with disabilities, including the emergency department, but Sarah and everybody else was determined. The system was working against us, but they were going to figure out a solution.