Calm care at Beebe even during a tornado

By Laele King

This is a letter of thanks to the wonderful nurses, technicians, doctors and surgeon who cared for me during my April 1 stay in the emergency department at Beebe Healthcare’s Margaret H. Rollins Lewes Campus.

My experience started at 8 a.m. in triage, which moved me immediately into a room in the ED. My nurse was Susanne Hagan, and she was so caring and concerned. Very quickly, physician Nicholas Perchiniak, MD, began the task of determining what was causing my inability to keep food down.

Intravenous medicine and liquids were started to forestall dehydration and nausea. The team then began a very systematic approach to investigating my condition. My bloodwork all came back as healthy, and my electrocardiogram was also good. My heart enzymes were perfect, so I was taken for a contrast CT scan. Dr. Perchiniak explained that normally they would start with a sonogram, but since I had no pain or infection, he felt this would narrow down the possible diagnosis more efficiently.

As it turned out, I had a large gallstone that was blocking my gallbladder duct. Barbara Fennen, the sonogram technician, assisted in clarifying exactly what my situation was. She also began working to see if the stone could be moved. She was awesome!

Dr. Perchiniak admitted me and spoke immediately to board-certified general surgeon Mark Facciolo, DO, who indicated that he already had a team ready for my surgery — on a Saturday night! Dr. Facciolo came down to the ED and took me directly up to the operating room, where the surgical team prepped me for the procedure. Because of my sensitivity to anesthesia, the anesthesiologist looked up my record and mimicked my prior surgery, which had gone very well. What a great team, and what excellent care.

Surgery was completed, and just after I was moved to a recovery room, an alert over the hospital public address system announced, “Code T.” The alert instructed that everyone should take cover. A tornado was headed our way. The entire group moved into a hallway. Staffers found my husband and brought him in to be with us.

I would like to repeat that this was all on a Saturday night, and not a single person acted hurried or anxious. Without exception, everyone was very caring and concerned with my well-being. They were determined to care for me and to help me be well.

I was back home by 7 p.m., Sunday evening. It was an amazing journey that had a great outcome, thanks to the excellent care I received at Beebe Healthcare.

Thanks to Beebe for hiring the nicest people who knew how to approach a problem in an appropriate, efficient and systematic manner.