As a mother of a special needs child, I have trained myself to mentally prepare for the worst situation when it comes to medical appointments. My son is autistic, non-verbal, and has sensory issues, making any medical appointment a potential to be torturous for him. Yesterday he visited your facility to have tubes put in his ears and his adenoids removed. I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the care and compassion that every team member provided to my son and our family. From the pre-op phone call, all the way to discharge, we had a great experience.
These are a few moments that stood out to us:
* The patient is scared of going to the bathroom (sensory with noise and toilets). The scale that he needed to be weighed on was in the bathroom and he was petrified to go in. The nurse who checked us in offered to move the part of the scale that he needed to stand on outside of the bathroom, and her stay inside the bathroom to work the scale with the door closed. The patient jumped right on the scale and we were able to get his weight.
* The entire prep team... nurses, Dr. Griffith, the anesthesiologist and CRNA, the surgical tech... were phenomenal. Everyone was kind, calm, understanding, and went above and beyond to accommodate my little guy's needs.
* When it was time for the patient to be sedated, the entire team worked like a well-oiled machine AND was amazing with the patient. As expected the patient was scared and crying. When we first got situated in the OR everyone backed off a bit to allow him to process and not overwhelm him. When it was time for the mask to go over his face, EVERYONE in the OR came to help us. The CRNA was guiding me to hold him, Dr. Griffith was a familiar and calming face to us both and came to assist holding him, the nurses swooped in to help, and the surgical tech even got out a video for the patient to watch while drifting off to sleep.
* We got updates in a timely manner and although worried about the patient, were not fearful while he was in your team's hands.
* The PACU nurses were phenomenal. They cared for the patient while he recovered and was not the happiest of guys. My husband and I were allowed to go back with him while he recovered and the nurses made sure that the patient's two favorite stuffed animals were with him.
* The patient's final recovery phase and discharge was also outstanding. The nursing staff again were calm, kind, and compassionate.
Please know that all of these acts, that some may think of as simple, made ALL the difference in the world to the patient. I truly can't thank you ALL enough for everything you did for him, and us.
We drove an hour to come to MidCoast, bypassing various other facilities closer by, and I can say with certainty that I would do it again.