by
bprop » Mon Nov 13, 2017 7:36 pm
chaifetz10 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2017 4:01 pm
Honestly, with a hospital that small, it's not going to have a huge ER anyways. Most ambulances would probably still go to SLU / BJC for trauma. I wouldn't even really call it a hospital. More like a supersized urgent care.
Well sure, it's not going to be a trauma center, but how many ER visits fall into that category?
Meanwhile, somewhat related, a conversation I heard on Metrolink last week: a guy got on at Union Station and started chatting with someone he knew right in front of me:
Guy: "Hey, I'm feeling like I'm getting sick"
Friend: "Like you're going to throw up?"
Guy: "Oh no man. Nothing like that. Like I'm getting a cold."
Friend: "Go to Barnes."
Guy: "Like the emergency room?"
Friend: "Yea."
Guy: "They can help with that?"
Friend: "Yea, I think they can treat pretty much everything."
(Friend gets off at Grand. Lady across the aisle pipes up.)
Lady: "You better be fixin to wait!"
Guy: "I don't care about that. I got time. Should I go there?"
Lady: "Yea, you should just go there if you feeling sick."
Lady #2: "I think maybe you need to go to an urgent care."
Lady: "No, they treat all that at Barnes."
Guy: "Do they have one of those at Barnes?"
Lady: "No you just go to the emergency room there."
Guy: "OK. I'll do that."
He got off at CWE. I imagine he went to the emergency room for a cold he felt coming on. Not one mention of cost or payment.
Long story short, I have a feeling a downtown hospital would treat a lot of cases like this. And Saggar is adamant about separating stuff like this from real emergencies.