MK First Aid NOT First Class

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Jen Jen

New Member
Original Poster
My grandparents and a few others were visiting MK last week. On the way to guest services outside, my grandfater caught a barricade on the wheel of his ECV and it tipped over on him and broke his hip. Total accident, nobody's fault. The people standing around, cast member and other guests, helped my grandpa back into his ECV. They probably shouldn't have, but they were trying to be nice and helpful, so it was appreciated. Then my family took my grandpa to First Aid. Keep in mind this is an eightysome year old man in a lot of pain, even though it is still unknown that his hip is actually broken. What help did First Aid offer? NONE They sent him back to his hotel!!! So my grandpa had to ride his ECV back onto the monorail and into the Contemporary. They called an ambulance for him there, and he was taken to Celebration Hospital where he had to have surgery. Now I don't expect for First Aid to have been able to fix my grandpa's hip or even help his pain. But to my it is absolutely despicable that they did not call the ambulance for him right then and there. What kind of training are they giving these First Aid people, anyway?
 
Doesn't sound good..

Yeah, I agree, that sounds pretty sad. It also makes me wonder what type of actual "training" they have. Is First Aid only a First Aid station or is it combined with another department, like guest relations, etc? I'm almost finished with my EMT class & common sense would say a rapid trauma assessment could've indicated he had a fractured hip. I would think they would at least have EMT-Basic training & if not, at the lowest level of "First Aid," be able to question the patient about the pain & severity & determine what actions should be taken? A geriatric patient who has fallen should always be considered a high priority. Personally, I think its a fairly poor response to send someone back to their hotel who complains of pain after a fall.-Bryant
 

tn1999

New Member
I dont know about first aid, but baby care is run by the emporium. The only reason they probably didnt react appropriately to the broken hip, was because they didnt think it was serious. they proly judge the seriousness by the guest's reaction. no offense to you, but maybe if you showed more concern? I cant imagine them not calling an ambulence there if u asked for one.
 

adjonline

Member
Doesn't sound very good. I've seen Reedy Creek on stage for fairly minor falls.

From memory, MK First Aid is stafed by the nurses, so something like this shouldn't have happened.
 

Craig & Lisa

Active Member
adjonline said:
Doesn't sound very good. I've seen Reedy Creek on stage for fairly minor falls.

From memory, MK First Aid is stafed by the nurses, so something like this shouldn't have happened.

I can only say that at Epcot the first aid station had a nurse from Celebration Hospital when I went to have a blister that I needed to put a new bandage on. I am surprised.
 

brisem

Well-Known Member
When we were there in April 2004, my wife was 5 months pregnant. After Wishes and waiting for the bus. She started to have some problems. The mgt there heard there was a problem came over, got someone from the first aid and an ambulance. The made arrangements to get my kids and myself to the hospital and arranged with the hotel to get us back(which ended up beginning 3am). I thought they handled the situation very well.
 

tigsmom

Well-Known Member
Laura22 said:
Did anyone in your grandfather's party ASK them to call an ambulance???

That was my question also.
Personally I would not have let anyone move him (just remove the ECV) and call an ambulance.

Sounds like somebody dropped the ball that day (and it does happen).

How is your grandfqther now?
 

MagliteL13

Active Member
Jen Jen said:
My grandparents and a few others were visiting MK last week. On the way to guest services outside, my grandfater caught a barricade on the wheel of his ECV and it tipped over on him and broke his hip. Total accident, nobody's fault. The people standing around, cast member and other guests, helped my grandpa back into his ECV. They probably shouldn't have, but they were trying to be nice and helpful, so it was appreciated. Then my family took my grandpa to First Aid. Keep in mind this is an eightysome year old man in a lot of pain, even though it is still unknown that his hip is actually broken. What help did First Aid offer? NONE They sent him back to his hotel!!! So my grandpa had to ride his ECV back onto the monorail and into the Contemporary. They called an ambulance for him there, and he was taken to Celebration Hospital where he had to have surgery. Now I don't expect for First Aid to have been able to fix my grandpa's hip or even help his pain. But to my it is absolutely despicable that they did not call the ambulance for him right then and there. What kind of training are they giving these First Aid people, anyway?

Did the people who helped him back into the ECV escort you to first aid? Or offer any additional help? I have to agree that a few simple questions could determine what needed to go on. People trip occasionally getting on and off the Jungle Boats (it's just the nature of the ride) and if it was a situation like this was, I would have not even attempted to move them unless the place they were at was in immediate danger (i.e. stroller parade).

This is actually the only bad story I've heard about First Aid, and I'm sorry you had to be part of it. I sincerely hope that your Grandpa's okay.
 

crazycalf

New Member
Laura22 said:
Did anyone in your grandfather's party ASK them to call an ambulance???

The people who helped him up should have asked if he was ok. They also should have asked if he needed an ambulance. If someone gets hurt at my PT job, that's what I have to do. And I would definently not help someone up who appears to be injured. You can only hurt them more if you do not know what you are doing.

The injured person is always allowed to say I don't want an ambulance.
 

MSTINKHERBELL01

New Member
I am very sorry about your grandpa sweetie. As you said, it was no ones fault as it was an accident. Given his age and condition I would have requested an ambulance just to be on the safe side.
 

ssidiouss@mac.c

Well-Known Member
Umm.. if he was so hurt.. why didnt he or the people his was traveling with.. ask for an ambulance.

Hey.. I have a complaint too. The last time I was in Disney World it was over a 100 degrees out and I almost died of dehydradition.. I needed a drink badly but I didnt want to ask anyone for what I needed. I was really upset though that nobody offered me a drink!! I almost died out there! Those bastages!!! :hammer:
 

MickeyTigg

New Member
Laura22 said:
Did anyone in your grandfather's party ASK them to call an ambulance???

Exactly....they are a First Aid station...not an Emergency Department at a hospital. They aren't trained or set up to Triage major injuries. They are there for blisters and relatively minor injuries.

If your Grandfather or anyone else in your party didn't indicate how much pain he was in how were they supposed to know?

Granted....maybe First Aid didn't handle this as well as they could have. They probably should have been more probing in their questions....but some of this also falls on the guest. They aren't an ED, they can't do X-Rays or MRI's....so people need to help out a bit with some information.

It sounds like they sent him to the hotel to rest and when he got there it became evident that he was in a lot of pain...then the ambulance was called.
 

tigsmom

Well-Known Member
ssidiouss@mac.c said:
Umm.. if he was so hurt.. why didnt he or the people his was traveling with.. ask for an ambulance.

Hey.. I have a complaint too. The last time I was in Disney World it was over a 100 degrees out and I almost died of dehydradition.. I needed a drink badly but I didnt want to ask anyone for what I needed. I was really upset though that nobody offered me a drink!! I almost died out there! Those bastages!!! :hammer:

Sarcasm is uncalled for. I'm sure if it were a member of your family you would be as upset.
 

MickeyTigg

New Member
ssidiouss@mac.c said:
Hey.. I have a complaint too. The last time I was in Disney World it was over a 100 degrees out and I almost died of dehydradition.. I needed a drink badly but I didnt want to ask anyone for what I needed. I was really upset though that nobody offered me a drink!! I almost died out there! Those bastages!!! :hammer:

I don't think the sarcasm is necessary...I think you made your point with your first sentence.

Oh...and watch the language.
 

tigsmom

Well-Known Member
ssidiouss@mac.c said:
Umm.. if he was so hurt.. why didnt he or the people his was traveling with.. ask for an ambulance.
...

One more thing... breaks are not always apparent when the first happen. Sometimes people will think the pain is just from falling and its not until after they are up and moving again that the break causes problems. I have also seen people walking around on a broken leg for 2 days and they didn't know it until the went to the hospital for x rays.
 

CAPTAIN HOOK

Well-Known Member
OK - Grandfather falls from ECV and hurts side - goes to First aid and says he's hurt his side - who other than an Accident & Emergency trained nurse would think that his hip may be broken ?
The decision to call an ambulance would depend on the staff, and perhaps they should take some of the blame for not investigating sufficiently but I'm afraid that you should also take some responsibility for not requesting the ambulance - after all, you know him best.
Either way, I'm not posting here to lay blame (it honestly looks 50:50) - I just hope that he's getting better
 

tigsmom

Well-Known Member
CAPTAIN HOOK said:
OK - Grandfather falls from ECV and hurts side - goes to First aid and says he's hurt his side - who other than an Accident & Emergency trained nurse would think that his hip may be broken ?
The decision to call an ambulance would depend on the staff, and perhaps they should take some of the blame for not investigating sufficiently but I'm afraid that you should also take some responsibility for not requesting the ambulance - after all, you know him best.
Either way, I'm not posting here to lay blame (it honestly looks 50:50) - I just hope that he's getting better

Good point.

Grandpa may have insisted they not call an ambulance due to some level of embarrassment or the fear of ruining the day for everyone else. Not being there we cannot know if he expressed a feeling of severe pain at the time or if it came later.

Again, I hope grandpa is doing better and is on his way to a full recovery.
 

Trishnh

Active Member
I think they acted extremely poorly. Any time you have an elderly person fall like that, they should always err on the side of caution and unless it was expressed by the person or family that they did not want an ambulance, one should have been called.

We had a poor experience with first aid also, although not to this extreme. My daughter got a bad sunburn on her shoulders while we were there & we went to first aid to see if they had anything we could put on it to ease her discomfort and they wouldnt give her anything just kept telling us we should have prevented it. Well, duh!!:hammer: But, coming from the north into Florida sunshine with our pasty white skin, sometimes even SPF 50 (which we used) doesn't do the job!! I was pretty frustrated with them!!:drevil:
 

kal1484

Well-Known Member
Unless the guest asks for an ambulence none gets sent. Had you asked for an ambulence or such, they would have gotten one. Also, it does depend on how the guest acted. Had he acted fine, or didn't seem to want help, then they wouldn't have done anything.
 
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