S/o: Hatzala transportation - only Maimonides?

amother

Gold

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 5:33 pm

I'm wondering what people think I should do in my situation:

I have high risk pregnancies, and I need to be under the care of an MFM at a specific hospital in Manhattan. There is no OB at Maimonidies, Methodist, or Lutheran who can manage my pregnancies. With dc#1, I had a very long labor, and got to the hospital with plenty of time to spare. With dc#2, I had a precipitous labor, and there was crazy traffic on the way to NYC. I almost gave birth on the back seat of my car. I honestly don't know what to do for the next one. If I call hatzolah, they will take me to Maimo, where I will be delivered by some random resident who has no knowledge or experience with my medical condition. If my husband drives me, and we are stuck in traffic, I will probably give birth in the car. So what do I do?

Amarante

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 5:38 pm

amother wrote:

There are private medical transportation services. I had to hire one to take my grandfather from a nursing home back to where he lived. You can see what their fee is and how quickly they will come in an emergency. My grandfather's transport was scheduled but wasn't an emergency.

You can check what kind of medical personnel go along. However, if your labor is as fast as you say it was, you would still not have the benefit of the specialized Manhattan OB/GYN if you birthed in the ambulance.

Alternatively you could see if there is some kind of relatively inexpensive housing close to the hospital. When my friend's daughter had a stem cell transplant, she had to be within 15 minutes of the hospital for six months and the hospital had contacts for nearby housing.

mha3484

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 5:42 pm

I think it depends on how badly you broke your bone. I know someone who fell down her stairs and broke her ankle pretty badly. Hatzalah came and bandaged it up and helped her get up. At least where I live, they do a fair amount of basic first aid in addition to hospital transports. Maybe because I am in a smaller then NY sized community?

I have had other situations where my kids needed the ER and I felt fine to get them there myself. Last summer my toddler needed IV fluids so I took him (I also really wanted to go to the childrens hospital which is farther away without wasting anyones time) and my friends husband who is a hatzalah member told me I should have called hatzalah first because they could start a bag of fluids in the ambulance instead of waiting to get triaged. I never thought about it that way. I just felt like why be a burden. It definitely gave me a new way of seeing the situation if it were to happen again.

amother

Lime

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 6:56 pm

amother wrote:

By law, an ambulance cannot bypass a local hospital. It actually only makes sense. Hatzola members are volunteers, not your private car service. If you are stable enough to travel further, you can drive there yourself or arrange your own transportation. Monsey hatzola has the same policy. I'm surprised that people have the nerve to be upset at these men that are volunteering their time and expect them to give them more time to be their private transportation. How entitled.
And hatzola will never ever charge a patient for their services. If a patient is well enough to talk, they will ask for their insurance info to help cover the transport, but you can refuse. I see nothing wrong with that.

Monsey hatzolah took me to a much further hospital. My doctor didn’t want me to drive to the ER alone after hearing my issue and insisted I call hatzolah to take me. They agreed to take me to my own (much further) hospital no problem. It was not an emergency and I would never have dreamed of asking had my doctor not insisted.

amother

Hotpink

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 7:06 pm

amother wrote:

Can you induce?

amother

Taupe

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 7:57 pm

amother wrote:

They absolutely did. Different hatzoulas may have different policies.

Besides, it's your father who is with hatzoula, not you. It is possible you don't know the policy of every hatzoula.

I am the wife of a (long-time) hatzaloh paramedic. My husband says Hatzolah NEVER asks for a fee for transport.
Perhaps Hatzolah may occasionally bill insurance. But that would not ever be negotiated by the member at the scene.

gamanit

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 8:53 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Who calls hatzalah for a broken bone?

Almost everyone does. First of all hatzala can splint the injury to decrease your pain during your likely to be several hours emergency room wait. Second of all breaking a bone often comes along with (usually minor) internal bleeding so patients need to be monitored. This is especially true if a larger bone breaks. The blood loss for a broken femur for example can be very serious.

Sunny Days

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 9:56 pm

amother wrote:

Manhattan an BP are the same far from Williamsburg. Most of the time, from Williamsburg they take to Manhattan.
Amother Lime, monsey hatzola also took us to Manhattan because the doctor requested. I giess when the doctor calls with a request they follow through.

There is a very big difference from BP to Manhattan than Willi to Manhattan.
The closest decent hospital to Willi is Beth isreal, Bellevue then NYU.

smilethere1

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 10:02 pm

I didnt read through the entire thread but my experience was they took me to mount Sinai. Called in middle of the night cuz hadnt felt baby move and I had pregnancy condition that needed to be monitored closely especially babies movement. I felt totally fine...they took me to mt Sinai. I live in bp and I think was a flatbush hotzalah van that took me in. I wanted to tip them and the guy refused to take money he said to call in and donate like that....

Sunny Days

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 10:04 pm

smilethere1 wrote:

When was that?

recently such calls are directed to outside ambulance company for transport.

Mommyg8

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 10:09 pm

amother wrote:

I am also somewhat surprised at what kind of medical condition would require an ambulance with trained medical personnel but would also not be critical enough so that being stuck in Manhattan (or other NYC traffic) didn't matter.

It really is a kind of chutzpah to use a volunteer EMERGENCY AMBULANCE service in lieu of having family or friends drive you - or having Uber or a car service take you. An emergency is not a medical condition that can wait an hour or more to be triaged.

And I am somewhat surprised that Hatzala will actually transport non-emergency patients to the medical provider of their choice. Again, I can't imagine a true emergency that wouldn't need to be treated at nearest facility - presuming that facility was able to treat that condition - I.e. not all emergency rooms are equipped for severe burns for example.

This is totally not true.

There are many kinds of medical emergencies that can be stabilized by Hatzalah and can wait to be transported to a better hospital.

First of all, Hatzalah members are trained to deal with medical emergencies, uber drivers are not. Second, hatzalah ambulances often have equipment (such as stretchers, oxygen, etc) that will stabilize a patient until they can get to the better hospital, uber and family members obviously do not have either the personnel or equipment.

amother

Lavender

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 11:20 pm

amother wrote:

Most people that break a bone call hatzola. So do people that get a little cut that needs stitches.

If someone gets a cut that needs stitches they might need help controlling the bleeding. Unfortunately not everyone is trained in first aid.

yidishmamma

Mon, Mar 18 2019, 11:38 pm

amother wrote:

If someone gets a cut that needs stitches they might need help controlling the bleeding. Unfortunately not everyone is trained in first aid.

I know someone that cut her hand very bad from a sharp knife. She called Hatzalah and they stopped the bleeding and covered it very well and then she went later on her own to the Plastic Surgeon and boy did she need stitches

amother

Periwinkle

Tue, Mar 19 2019, 8:02 am

My daughter got a burn in September, Flatbush Hatzolah took me to Staten Island. If I remember correctly, they suggested Maimonides but I requested SIUH, and they were very agreeable. I think it was Flatbush....I remember both litvish and chassidish Hatzolah members in my bathroom while I stood clothed holding my daughter under the running shower Can't Believe It

, but I usually get Flatbush Hatzolah here in my location

amother

Hotpink

Tue, Mar 19 2019, 8:14 am

amother wrote:

Maybe different hatzolas have different policies. Hatzoula absolutely had a fee for transport. I keep saying this over and over. I am 100% certain of the fee.

How about you post your screen name? I will PM you with which hatzoula has the fee. You can call them and varify, and apologize to me. You are calling me a liar. That's not nice.

The fee was not negotiated at the scene but was mentioned first at a medical referral organization and then again when DH called hatzoula. This seems to not be a one time thing since the medical referral agency knew about it off the cuff.

amother

Orchid

Tue, Mar 19 2019, 9:00 am

Ra-mom, hatzola billing your insurance is not hatzola asking a patient directly to pay a fee.
They may ask you for your insurance info and you may refuse, they will not pressure you to give your info. Hatzola asking a patient to pay a fee is unheard of.
Maybe amother hotpink is referring to a private ambulance company.