north shore news —

50,000 CASES EACH YEAR AT LGH

Your throat is sore,
you're feverish and you
just know that you're
going to spend another
night coughing instead
of sleeping. Maybe you

should pop by the
Emergency Depart-
ment and get

something for it.

You're stripping the old
paint off the garden fur-
niture and your hand slips. It
doesn't bleed for very long
but it looks like it might need
a stitch. Best run up to
Emergency.

That rash on your chest is
now decorating your
stomach as well. Wonder
what it is. Oh well, they'll
know at Emergency.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

There is a tendency in our

community to view the
hospital's Emergency
Department as a drop-in

health clinic. A tendency,
says Dr. D.A. Grant who as
Chief of General Practice is
responsible for the Division
of Emergency Medicine,
that comes from a lack of
understanding of the role of
the Emergency Department
in the delivery of medical
services in the community.
The Lions Gate Hospital
Emergency Department is a
busy place, averaging about
50,000 cases a year or about
140 a day. The primary
responsibility of the
Emergency Department staff

are six Registered Nurses,
one ward clerk and one
service aide. The Depart-
ment’s one orderly works an
8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. shift.

The problem is that not all
the Department's customers
are emergencies. Many
people take their aches,
pains, cuts and bruises to
Emergency instead of
contacting their own doc-
tors. The result is over-
crowding, delays and
escalating costs.

Each arrival in Emergency
is greeted by a registered
nurse, who assesses the case.
If it is decided that
emergency treatment is not
necessary the patient is
referred to his or her own
doctor. No one is refused
treatment but the patient
will be charged a $37 non-
emergency treatment fee. .

Besides allowing’ the
Emergency department to
concentrate on urgent cases,
there are other good reasons
for contacting your own
family doctor. Among them:
your family doctor is already
familiar with yoru medical °
history and a visit to your
doctor's office is covered
under your Medical Plan
coverage.

During the day a Jot of
Situations can be handled
right in the doctor's office,
says Dr. Grant. And in the
evenings there is always a
doctor on call.

“And most doctors have

IN THE ‘first ald’ section of L.H.G. Emergency ward,
Dr. Brace Long, applies dressing after stitching the
finger of Colin Hepburn, a welder who got his finger

caught between two pieces of steel last Friday. (lan
Smith photo)

another doctor covering for
is to treat life-threatening them or are members of a
medical emergencies. call group with one doctor

There is a doctor on duty) on call for the group’s
round the clock, drawn from patients, so that there is

the 1S doctors in’ the = always a doctor available 24
Division of Emergency hours aday.”

Services During the “Lf people will get into the
Department's peak hours. habit of contacting their
9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., there doctor instead of coming

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straight to the Emergency
Department, it will help us
to ensure rapid efficient
medical services for people
in emergency situations,”
says Dr. Grant.

But, he stresses, there are
umes when you should not
hesitate to make use of the
Emergency Department. If

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you think there is something
seriously wrong, if there is a
head injury, a_ suspected
broken bone, a _ severe
laceration or burn, profuse
bleeding, chest pain or
respiratory problems —
report to the Emergency
Department’ tmmediately.
That's whatits there for.

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