A visit to BC Children's Hospital

Mason woke up today complaining of a sore knee.  Since he didn't have any visible injury and was perfectly fine the night before, I did what most parents do.  Give him some Tylenol and send carried him off to school.  Did I think he was faking it? A little.  It was so out of the blue and my attempts to trick him to walk normally failed but he didn't seem that badly off.

At 10:30 am I received a call from his daycare asking me to pick him up, he refused to walk and was crying.  Oops.

So I rushed out of work and picked him up (literally) and off to the Walk in clinic we went.  The waiting room surprisingly had only 2 people in it.  Great! I thought, no wait.  I guess the patients were invisible because I was told there was a 2 hour wait.  I called another clinic and they refused to tell me what the wait was like.  I then made the decision to head to emergency.  I figured he'd get better care and they could x-ray him faster.  So off to BC Children's we went (Sorry Burnaby General, you suck).

I wasn't aware that they were under construction, so the parking was a bit limited...and expensive.  I naively thought that I'd only need 2 hours. 

So the reason for this blog isn't really to tell Mason's story but to better prepare you parents out there that have maybe never had to take their kids to emergency.  I can't help with emotional part because we've been super lucky and not had any major illness.  However, going to this hospital is a bit of an adventure and I thought I'd offer some tips to make your stay a bit more bearable.

First, before you even get on the hospital parking lot.  Do you have these things:

  • Cell phone & wall charger (trust me, your battery will drain fast while you text/email/call with updates and diagnosis to your family) Not to mention the games your kid will play while you are waiting. 
  • Ditto goes for the iPad/tablet + charger (I brought my laptop so I could keep working. )
  • Water and snacks.  There is a Starbucks on site but it requires leaving the hospital to get it.  It was just Mason and I so I felt like I couldn't leave.  Here is an info sheet for where to eat.
  • Change for the pop/snack machine
  • Credit card/change for the parking meter (or a pay by phone account)
  • List of current prescriptions (or the bottles)
  • Care Card out and ready (I forgot mine at home, luckily they had Mason in their system from a previous visit)

First, you need parking (unless you are getting dropped off or by Ambulance).  There were signs for valet but we weren't that in dire needs of that luxury.  We parked in a space at the back and had to walk to the pay station (which isn't close if you have a sick heavy kid).  Parking costs: 

  • Hourly/daily rates: $3.50 per hour or $14.25 per day

I paid two different ways.  1st by meter which I had to enter my stall #.  Then when it ran out, I paid again from the parking meter just outside the 'main' entrance doors.  I had to use a code from the receipt so make sure you do not leave this paper in the car if you need to buy more time.  

The second way was not on purpose.  My 'buy more time' code did not work on the 3rd purchase and so I paid by phone which did not require a stall #.  It also is more convenient because it's tied to your phone & cc #.  You can buy more time from the comfort of the waiting room or hospital room.   It costs slightly higher as there is a 35 cent service fee on top of the parking fee.

So now you've paid and are inside.  Triage & Registration go quite quick.  Again, have your Care Card out.  They weighed Mason (40 lbs!) and took his temp and asked general questions.  Then over to Registration to verify address/phone #/Dr name etc.  

The waiting room.  Looks like it hasn't been updated since 2002 when it was designed.  Hopefully with the upgrade, they will make this room twice as big and more entertaining for the kids.  There were maybe 1 or 2 magazines to read and the TV & DVD provided by Rogers was broken.  I couldn't find any electrical outlets so you'd have to charge your devices in the private rooms.  There were kid sized tables with coloring pages & crayons.  There is also a payphone and vending machines.  There weren't any tissues around so best bring extras in your purse for when the washrooms are being used.  Speaking of which, there is one just off the waiting room area.  As for the private room, the one we were in had a TV & DVD Player but it was broken.  There wasn't much to do in there, the bed is kid sized so you can't lay down.  That's where my phone & laptop came in handy (the tablet was already dead by this point).

So now the fun begins, if you are in emerg., you are in for the long haul so don't expect to be going anywhere soon.  It was 2.5 hours before we were seen for x-rays and then an hour before we spoke to the Nurse.  Had blood work done (they provide spray freeze before the needle which is nice but Mason still hollered) and Mason was given a dose of Kids Advil.  Another hour passed before the Nurse returned with the results.  Nothing from the x-ray and his blood was clean.  The diagnosis was Transient synovitis.  A follow up was requested with a Pediatrician and we were sent on our way.

Close to dinner time and we were exhausted and starving.  $18.20 in parking fees, I should have just paid the daily fee of $14.25 and saved myself $3.95

I am very grateful that Mason's random illness wasn't more major and that it is a rare occasion that we visit the hospital.  I couldn't imagine what Parents go through who have multiple trips for patient care.  

For more information about BC Children's Hospital, click here.

Hopefully some of these pointers help you out and if I've forgotten anything please feel free to leave a comment and let me know!

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