Knowing Your Nearest Hospital

Do you look up the hospital(s) nearest where you will be staying when you’re planning a trip to another city or country? I always do. When you are in a new place, a few minutes spent trying to look it up could mean a delay in getting care and potentially make your situation worse. I always print out the address and phone number and/or enter it into my phone for easy access. My worst fear would be having an anaphylactic reaction without myself or my peers being aware of the location of a nearby hospital. When in more remote locations, it is important to know how far you will be from the nearest hospital; it may, in fact, be significantly faster to have a friend or family member drive you there rather than wait for an ambulance depending upon where the nearest hospital is located. Where I grew up, it could take the ambulance up to 30 minutes to get to our house from the time we called. So my parents would always drive in an emergency situation. Consider where the nearest hospitals are if you are moving to a new area of town for school or work. I like to know where they are and wouldn’t want to live more than 30 minutes away from a hospital. For me it is important to be close to a hospital because I know that, even if you are as careful as possible, cross-contaminations, undeclared ingredients or preservatives can trigger a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction. It has happened to me before. I feel much safer knowing that we have a plan if an anaphylactic reaction were to happen at home. A few years back, I had a fellowship at an Oceanographic Institution. Our team was planning field studies in a very remote area. I was unaware just how remote the area we’d be staying was until my supervisor advised me that, if there was an emergency, I would have to be airlifted by helicopter to the nearest hospital. That raised some red flags right away. My supervisor asked if I still felt comfortable going on the trip with this information in mind. I said, yes! I was not letting that get in my way. My preparation for the trip and extreme precautions throughout our stay were directly impacted by the fact that there was no hospital nearby. Upon arrival, myself and a few of my colleagues cleaned and scrubbed the kitchen until all surfaces had been cleaned (including the fridge, microwave and oven). I made all the food from scratch in our motel suite (which had a full kitchen), and I never ate out. When my colleagues went out for dinner, I joined them; but didn’t eat or drink anything as they used peanut oil to cook.  I was, ultimately, worried that even the water glasses may have some residue left on them if not cleaned properly. Knowing that the hospital was so far away, I knew I had to be on my “A-game” at all times. I equipped myself with extra epinephrine auto-injectors and a lot of antihistamines. It is all in the planning process. You plan the food you will be taking with you, restaurants you feel safe going to, and ensure you know the location of the nearest hospital. These should all be parts of your pre-trip planning. Have you ever had an experience where knowing the nearest hospital was especially helpful for you? How did knowing where the nearest hospital was help you?

Erika