It was around 9:05 a.m. when Melinda Hudson brought her husband into the emergency room of Cullman Regional Medical Center. Two weeks prior, he had experienced a stroke and was now feeling heart discomfort.

Hudson, of Cullman, had expected the wait at the ER room to be minimal for someone in as dire of need as her husband. She soon learned that would not be the case.

“There were five people in front of us at the registration to sign in,” Hudson said. “The waiting room was full. They (ER staff) said they were short-staffed and had no rooms.”

Hudson’s ordeal occurred Tuesday — the seventh day after CRMC closed Woodland Medical Center’s emergency room and took on its responsibilities. CRMC purchased Woodland Medical last month and plans to close the entire facility on July 15.

Tuesday was also when the CRMC Board of Directors met for their regular meeting and President Jim Weidner hailed the first seven days of the ER transition as a success.

“Everything is going as planned,” Weidner said of the ER transition. “A lot of work went into planning to handle the surges.”

According to statistics provided by Weidner, the CRMC ER experienced an increase of between 90 and 120 patients per day from July 1 to July 7 or a 30 percent increase in volume. On two of those seven days the ER had a volume of 130 patients, which Weidner said was a little too taxing for the facility.

In addition, he said only 1.9 percent of patients who came into the ER on the first seven days left before they were seen by a physician.

“There was great teamwork between the staff to make sure patients received the same level of care,” Weidner said.

Hudson begs to differ.

After doing an EKG scan on Hudson’s husband, a nurse told her that though he needed to be in bed in a room, no rooms were available and he would have to sit in the waiting room. At 9:51 a.m., Hudson said she called the hospital administration.

“By 10 a.m., they came by and said they had a room … at that point, the nurse said she was trying to get a bed and said she didn’t appreciate administration calling her,” Hudson said. “I said I was not trying to get anyone in trouble … but said they (administration) were not ready for this influx of patients.”

By 1:22 p.m., Hudson said her husband saw a doctor for the first time and by 3:45 p.m., the doctor decided he should be transferred to a hospital in Huntsville.

For Hudson and her husband, the CRMC ER was not pleasant, but for Freeda Reid and her husband, the experience was quite different.

“It was a pretty good experience,” Reid said.

Reid of Hanceville, had to bring her husband to the ER Thursday because of a recently opened wound on his arm that would not stop bleeding. When the Reids arrived that afternoon, there were only around six or seven people in the waiting room.

“The wait was just 30 minutes,” Reid said. “It took another 30 minutes for the doctor.”

She added that the two had been to the CRMC ER before and the experience had been about the same.

“They (ER staff) did really good,” Reid said.

Chelsie Pruett of Cullman walked out of the ER less than 20 minutes after the Reids with a far different opinion, however.

“They suck,” she said.

Holding her right side with her hand, Pruett explained she had kidney stones and had waited in the ER for nearly three hours for some help, which she never received.

“I saw the doctor one time and haven’t seen him since,” Pruett said. “He said I shouldn’t be in pain for what I have.”

Pruett continued that twice she had asked a nurse how long it would be until the doctor returned, but could never get an answer.

“We just got up and walked out and nobody tried to stop us,” Pruett said. “I’m never coming back here.”



‰ Patrick McCreless can be reached by e-mail at patrickm@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.