"My daughter with unknown illness/pain and the team that solve this problem."

I sat for awhile trying to figure out what to write so here it goes; be patient, it’s a long one 🥰

On a weekend recently we had to rush one our children to hospital for urgent care. (I will not be sharing the details as this isn’t the purpose of this post.)

We were confronted with complicated inconclusive findings. We had some amazing nursing staff, surgeons and doctors involved; for these people I am so thankful for, without these amazing people doing, I feel, such a demanding, stressful job day in day out we could have had a very different outcome.

We are located in a rural community so I believe pressure on staff and hospitals having to service such a large number in the region with limited equipment can be extremely challenging. I truly hope either the future or the present health minister helps the hospitals servicing these communities with more advanced/ up to date systems to, I feel, assist doctors and surgeons obtain more precise results to help them make their job easier - I believe rural doctors and surgeons etc have additional challenges working in remote areas.

During our time in the hospital I became aware of a very important number which I have linked to this post, it is the Aishwaryas Care Call number, I feel in cases this magic number can save the life of a child, patient or anyone in care. It is there for additional support, help or even concerns about the patient’s welfare. In my experience, if you are concerned about the care of a patient in a hospital, you are feeling unsure of the results or even are not happy with care which has taken place….. call this number. My understanding is, this is not a number to blame people or staff, but to help get assistance and investigations needed to obtain a positive result.In my experience it opens pathways to other professionals who may be able to help.I believe it can be a life saver.

If you aren’t happy, I think you need to speak up and you need to advocate for your child. I believe if you are at wits end make the call, you actually may be helping the staff. I feel working together to help patients and all involved is what it’s about.

As for us, I personally learnt a lot over the few days and this experience has made me aware of how unaware I was of so much in the medical system. But the biggest thing I learnt was yes we have all had experiences in hospitals negative and positive; but what I witnessed was a group of people working hard to help my child. When most people are asleep at home, they were testing, managing pain, operating….. it was such a learning curve. Walking through the hospital halls at 1am when they are operating, I found myself reflecting thinking, who ever is watching over us and has given us this amazing team…. Thankyou 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

So I have so many people I personally wanted to thank. Some of these are and not limited to :

Geraldton Regional Hospital staff- Caleb the ED nurse - I felt he was extra amazing, even made my daughter smile, Paediatric ward staff were also amazing.

Dr Carolyn & team (such an amazing team in my opinion).

The additional surgeons and staff who came to assist and help, I feel you are all amazing and I can not thank you all enough.

💜Our family

#geraldtonregionalhospital

#regionalhealthwa

#aishwaryascare

#respecthealthprofessionals

#beyourchildsadvocate

#worktogether

#wahealthminister

Midwest care call number :

1800 316 729