Well Run

The difference of a well run office and a poorly run office is how it reacts to a bad situation. I saw the worst example of this yesterday. My father was scheduled for a procedure at 10:15am. It was the second part of a procedure that he had last week. We arrived at the office to see that every seat was taken and people were standing in the hallway. The seated people all had their eyes closed which is an indication of them being there for a while. This office deals with dialysis patient's vascular problems so no one should have been left to stand. My father had a sonogram and then was told that the procedure was an "add on" and he would have to wait for a while to have it, as other people were before him. It seems that in error he was listed as a follow up and not a procedure when the schedule was made. He had not eaten since the night before to prepare for this surgery. A man and his aide walked in and it seems that they read their appointment card wrong. The appointment was for 11/19 but they thought it was for 11/14. They were told to stay anyway as they had made the trip. Clearly, this to me, should have been treated as the "add on". We sat and sat and sat and at 1pm, I asked when we were going to be seen. The other man that walked in on the wrong date was already in the OR suite. At about 2pm, my father was brought back to the pre op room and got into a surgical gown. He was told he would be the last procedure of the day. I then became quite upset. He is 96 years old and it was not his fault that the schedule was incorrect. By this time his aide andI had not eaten anything or even had a sip of water since 8am. I asked a surgical nurse for water and she went to get some for me but never returned with it. This center gives a sandwich to the patients after surgery so they have a stocked kitchen. I asked another nurse for water and she disappeared into thin air. I asked to see the manager and a young man walked over. I explained that I had been there since 9:30am and it was now 3:30pm and neither myself nor the aide had eaten a bite of food or a sip of water all day. The office is in a residential area and parking is terrible so the option of moving my car to drive for any food would result in spending an hour looking for a parking spot again. The manager told me that I could walk 1/2 mile to the nearest store. That was my "Niagara Falls" moment when my head spun around and I let my feeling be clearly known. I told him that neither he nor his office has any human compassion or kindness and that he should be ashamed of himself for not bringing me a cup of water after sitting for 6 1/2 hours, especially when I asked a few times. I told him that a dog in Key West is treated better as dog bowls full of water are left in front of every store in case a dog is thirsty.  After the surgery at 6pm, they brought my father a tuna fish sandwich. It was a big sandwich and he could only eat half of it. He told me to have the other half. Do you know what I did with that half? I brought it to his aide. I would not eat first, if she had not eaten. I could not see another person go hungry. That is how I was brought up.