Proximity to emergency health care risk factor consideration.

[Sprogster]

One of my neighbours who is Norwegian, following a heart attack sold his holiday home in the Var to move nearer a French town where there are emergency hospital A&E facilities, in case heaven forbid he had another one.

What this highlights is a risk factor most of us overlook in our haste to find our bucolic paradise, in that as we get older being stuck too far out in the sticks might not be the best situation if you require emergency medical care, when every minute can count. 

[Hoddy]

This is an interesting point Sprogster. I'd like to add that it would be a good idea to check out the quality of those A & E departments too. Like most others we never gave this a thought until my OH cut himself badly with a Stanley knife.

We rushed to the local A & E only to find that the only doctor on duty was out on call. It didn't matter to us becuase the injury wasn't serious, but I did wonder what would have happened if it had been.

Hoddy

[Llwyncelyn]

Since moving to France we have for a serious heart problem in respect of my wife had to get into Lezignan Corbieres near Narbonne, St Lo in Normandie and recently Avranches.  This does not take into account Northern Spain.

Nothing changes everyone is scared stiff and especially so when no one speaks English.  And before I am taken apart I do not expect them to speak English save for the fact that it is somewhat universal in medical matters but I do of course live in France.  Thus its incumbent upon me to speak their language?

Unless you are a native French speaker (and even then your command of matters medical must surely be limited) it is the worse place to be in the world with people arriving putting in drips taking them out shunting you for tests and you do not know what is happening.  You try to adopt a supportive role but even then you are yourself absolutely out of it and the feeling is one of that you cannot do anything about it.

We are moving and one of our research models was the availability of specialists in the field of heart problems and of course RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis)

Of course we hear of the wonderful system in France and we and upon our experience agree.  But at 3am in A and E wherever it be the UK or France is so worrying.

rdgs

 

[Sunday Driver]

LL is right -  if you have an important medical condition, then you ought to should make enquiries over your local facilities.

However, if something like a heart attack arrives out of the blue, then you are essentially a passenger, wherever you live.  The treatment goes over your head and it's only afterwards when you do some research to find out what the heck they did to you, that you begin to understand.  To some extent, that makes it easier the second time around (God forbid...) because you'll have a fair idea of what's happening.

In terms of the language, if you have an existing condition, then it's got to be worth doing some homework on the French terms for the symptoms, procedures, etc...

When I had my heart attack in Brum in 2004, they thrust a form into my hand and said 'sign it'.  When I asked what it was, the nurse said it's going to stop you dying in about half an hour!  When I eventually got out of hospital and went through the various bits of paper I'd collected, I found the form and it said exactly that.....[:-))].

 

 

[zeb]

I read in my local paper recently that in the event of a heart attack it's recommended that you phone 15 so that the correct medical help and equipment is brought out to you, wherever you are, rather than trying to get yourself to the facilities.

[Patf]

If you are unlucky enough to have a heart attack in France remember it's called a crise cardiaque, and not mal au coeur (which I believe means feeling sick.) It's worth preparing what to say on the phone and writing it down including directions to where you live - all in french. I should know - it happened to me and I made a right mess of it. But somehow it all worked out in the end.

[Sprogster]

The main point of my original post was proximity to hospital A&E facilities, not any language barrier.

In France increasingly the gold standard treatment for heart attack victims is immediate angioplasty to unblock the artery, fit a stent and limit damage to the heart muscle. (Think dynorod!)

Unfortunately, the longer it takes to get to the hospital with or without paramedics the poorer the long term prognosis.

[Sprogster]

Zeb,

You are absolutely correct in that driving or being driven by someone else whilst you are having a suspected heart attack is extremely dangerous to yourself and other road users. The risk in being driven, is that the driver is distracted by your condition.

Also the medical authorities advise that you do not attempt to contact your doctor,  just call the emergency services as they will get to you a lot quicker and have resucitation equipment that your local doctor or their call out service will not have to hand.

In the UK there is an advertising campaign sponsored by the British Heart Foundation that says exactly the above.

[Tony F Dordogne]

A&E is what you need when you get to the hospital, in the mean time you have the golden hour to get stabilised by medical experts who can provide emergency assistance and care.

Having seen them in action last year, the immediate response will be from the Pompier who, in our town, have a team of qualified paramedics who can administer all the emergency assistance required.  It's the same system as the UK - the paramedics turn up, do what they need to do to stabilise you and then they get you to hospital for in-patient treatment.

I really don't see what the issue may be here - apart from Hoddy's experience of course - as the system in France would be exactly the same as in the UK, if the Pompier/parameds need further, at the scene help, they would call out the SAMU doctor or similar.

[jc]

Most pompier/paramedics have a local doctor "on-call" anyway.My experience of them was excellent but the French drivers.????Large red ambulance,four blue lights on the roof-one on each corner-two-tone horns and do the drivers get out of our way?-one guess.And then at the A&E,pompiers lifting me out on a stretcher and another driver comes up to ask the pompiers how to get to some place.But they did all insist on shaking hands with me before they left-an excellent service.This was after bringing their ambulance out into the wilds of the countryside after I damaged my leg jumping over a ditch.