Action Line #100106–Limited Heath Care

  • Published
  • By 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  Complaint:

My son hit his head at school Wednesday afternoon. He complained about headaches that slowly got worse until he was unable to sleep. For fear that my son's injury was worse than I thought; I called and set up an appointment at the clinic for him to be seen that morning. Upon arrival, I was advised that everyone was downstairs participating in an exercise and we could either wait in the lobby or we could reschedule his appointment for next week. If we chose to wait in the lobby we would be waiting until the exercise was over and they were unaware of how long we would have to wait. I advised the front desk clerk that the appointment was for a head injury and I was advised again that we can either sit and wait or we can reschedule our appointment.

Needless to say I left with my son. I would rather him be home to rest comfortably than to wait in a waiting room full of people while he was in pain. Luckily he is feeling better and everything seems fine. However, I am bothered by the fact that we have limited resources for health care here and the primary medical facility we have to rely on will push you to the side while an exercise is going on and leave you with no one to care for you. In a situation like a head injury, it could have been fatal. I would hate to think that that was not taken into consideration. I am very disappointed with how we were treated and the less than average customer service we received.

Response:

The Medical Group Airmen must balance the need to be fully trained to respond to disaster as well as to provide care to our community. To be able to be fully trained to respond to the myriad scenarios we might face in Turkey, our staff needs the ability and time to participate in exercises.

The process by which we deal with the frequent exercises on base is one where the patient plays a significant role and a burden the entire base carries as well as the Medical Group. In response to this inquiry, we have reiterated and confirmed the intake process our front desk personnel use to assure we minimize the impact on our patients and keep them safe. Exercises are not convenient for anyone; however, neither are real world disasters. We beg the indulgence and understanding of our patients as we attempt to maintain our readiness to respond.

During any delay caused by an exercise or some other extraordinary event (such as a complex patient, emergency run or provider illness), our staff is trained to offer several options. They are first to ask the patient if the situation is an emergency or an urgency where they feel they cannot wait. If an emergency/urgency is proclaimed, a provider will be called immediately or 911 activated. If not, then the staff should explain the situation to the patient and offer other options: choose to wait for the event to end or the provider to catch up, accept a new appointment later that same day, or accept an appointment on a future date. We guarantee all patients who had an appointment and still want to be seen will be seen that day, regardless of the time. Please note that we rely on the patient to identify to the staff when their condition becomes unbearable or they feel it is an emergency they should not wait.